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Early Lee County 

Being Some Chapters in the History 
of the Early Days in Lee County, 

Illinois 



BY 

WILLIAM D. BARGE 



» 00 



CHICAGO 
1918 



Gift 

Author 






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PREFACE 



This is not an effort to write a history of any man or 
any locality. The sole purpose of the work is the collec- 
tion and preservation of the scarce and almost inaccessi- 
ble evidence of some of the men and events prominent in 
the early days of Lee County. It was not prepared to 
sustain any theory or tradition, but every effort within 
my power has been made to leani all the facts concerning 
these men and events and state them correctly. 

Some old traditions have been shattered, but they were 
not sustained by the facts, and many of them had no foun- 
dation except the loose talk of persons who were ignorant 
of the matters of which they spoke. Some of my old 
beliefs, held and cherished since early cliildliood, have 
been dispelled, but they were founded upon misinforma- 
tion. 

Reference is made to some public record, report or 
document whenever one could be found. When such evi- 
dence could not be had, my resort was to newspapers, pri- 
vate letters or records or books written or published 
about that time, in the belief that such contemporaneous 
statements are more likely to be free from error than 
those made years afterwards. In some instances the 
private records and the public records differ, and the lat- 
ter are followed, the entries being contemporaneous with 
the event. Every statement of fact is based on evidence 
of one of the kinds mentioned, though references have 
been omitted in some places. 

All Indian words appearing on John Dixon's account 
books are given in the form used there. Other Indian 
words are given a^ shown in the Eighteenth Annual Re- 



11 



port of the Bureau of American Ethnology, except when 
in quotations. 

I acknowledge my indebtedness to Mrs. Caroline 
M. Newberry, Pontiac, Michigan, the only living child of 
Stephen Mack ; Henry S. Dixon and George C. Dixon of 
Dixon, Illinois; William C. Andrus, Grand Detour, Illi- 
nois, and John Blackhawk, Black River Falls, Wisconsin, 
for assistance without which this work could not have 
been finished. 

William D. Barge. 
Chicago, June, 1918. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

La Sallier 1 

Stephen Mack 11 

Fur Trade at Grand Detour 31 

Joseph Ogee and his Ferry 40 

Old Account Books 69 

Kinzies at Dixon 78 

Old Central Railroad 82 

John Dixon v. Oron Hamlin 95 

Dixon Hotel Company 103 

Illinois and Rock River R. R. Co 105 

First Baptist Church Ill 

Lee County's First Physician 112 

Early Politics .' 114 

Amboy 124 

Genesis of Lee County 130 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 



LA SALLIER. 

In 1835, Joseph Crawford found some decaying logs 
and other ruins of an old habitation at the Grand Detour 
on the bank of Franklin Creek, about thirty-five rods 
from Rock river. There was plainly visible an excavation 
as though made for use as a cellar, and other evidences 
of the existence, at an earlier date, of a log cabin. 

On the authority of a statement made to him by Gurdon 
S. Hubbard, Rufus Blanchard told the writer that one 
La Sallier, a Frenchman, built a trading post on the south 
side of the river, near Grand Detour, in 1822, and occu- 
pied it for some time. The location is shown on Blanch- 
ard 's Historical Map of Illinois. The writer called Mr. 
Crawford's attention to this statement of Blanchard, and 
it was then that Mr. Crawford told me of his discovery. 

That there was a trading post on Rock river in the win- 
ter of 1802-1803 is clearly shown by the Personal Narra- 
tive of Capt. Thomas G. Anderson, who says he spent that 
winter ''with the Winnebagoes on Rock river. They were 
the most filthy, most obstinate and the bravest people of 
any Indian tribe I have met with. Here I had a half- 
breed in opposition in the trade. Our houses were about 
half a mile apart, and between us was a very high hill, 
over which we had to pass by a little path through the 
bushes." (Wis. His. Coll., vol. 9, pp. 137, 152.) He does 
not state at what point on the river this post was lo- 
cated, but we know it was not at the site of La Sallier 's 
house, for he says the hill stood at least three hundred 
feet above the water in the river. He does not give the 
name of his competitor. 

The house mentioned by Anderson was not the cabin 
at Crabapple Point, on the northwesterly shore of Lake 
Koshkonong, that is said (American Arclieologist, v. 7, 



2 ON ROCK RIVER 

p. 78; Peet, Prehistoric America, v. 2, p. 269) to have 
been occupied, at a time that is not stated, by ''Le Sel- 
lier"; for the ground there was only twenty to sixty feet 
above the water. That cabin was in ruins in 1839. 

The Archeologist says, witliout mentioning the time, 
that Thiebeau, who was employed by Juneau of Milwau- 
kee, occupied a cabin on the southeasterly shore of this 
lake, and that is said have disappeared in 1838. 

In Wmihun, Mrs. Kinzie says that John Kinzie arrived 
in Chicago in 1804, and later established trading posts 
"at Rock River with the Winnebagoes and the Pottawa- 
tamies," and that these posts contributed to that at Chi- 
cago, but she does not say at what particular places or 
in what year these posts were established. 

Kinzie evidently had many trading posts, as he had 
twenty trading licenses in 1803 (Letter of September 10, 
1803, from AVilliam Burnett to Gov. W. H. Harrison of 
Indiana Territory; Hurlhut's Chicago Antiquities, p. 
70), and some of them appear to have been used at trad- 
ing posts in Illinois. Though so extensively engaged in 
the fur trade, he was an independent trader, and had no 
connection with the American Fur Company until 1825, 
when he succeeded John Crafts as its representative at 
Chicago. (Andreas History of Chicago, vol. 1, p. 96.) He 
was Indian sub-agent at Chicago, 1820-1822, and his son, 
John H., was in the fur trade at Milwaukee in 1821 when 
he was ordered to close his concern and leave the place, 
having been detected selling whiskey to the Indians. (Am. 
State Papers, Indian Affairs, v. 2, p. 360.) 

La Sallier was in the service of this company as early 
as 1813, and was on Rock River in 1822. The fact that 
La Sallier was occupying this post in 1822 is some evi- 
dence that it was established by the American Fur Com- 
pany. AVhile this is but slight evidence, it is stronger 
than any evidence supporting any other theory. 

The account books kept by John Kinzie were delivered 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 3 

to the Chicago Historical Society many years ago. The 
secretary of the society persuaded James Grant Wilson 
to undertake the writing of a history of Chicago. AVil- 
son thought it would be well to at least make mention of 
some of those with whom Kinzie had dealt. To do this, 
the secretary of the society made a careful examination 
of the books and took from them all the names of persons 
appearing therein. That list is now in the archives of 
the society, but the books were burned in the great fire 
of 1871. It gives names and a few addresses, nothing 
else. From it we learn that Kinzie had dealings with 
Pierre La Salliere September 27, 1804, and September 3, 
1806; with LaSallierre at Milwaukee February 1, 1807; 
with Mr. Lasellier January 12, 1817. 

In Huvlhui^s CJiicago Antiquities, ip.Sl, Gurdon S. Hub- 
bard says that John Crafts was sent to Chicago by a 
Mr. Conant of Detroit, the date not being given, and that 
he "had, up to 1819, full control of this section, without 
opposition from the American Fur Company, sending out- 
fits to Rock River and other points within a range say of 
a hundred miles of Chicago," but he fails to locate the 
particular place on Rock river, and does not tell when it 
was established or who had charge of it. 

Hulibard is slightly in error. Crafts was not sent to 
Chicago by ''Mr. Conant," but by the firm of Mack & 
Conant, who were very extensively engaged in the fur 
trade, and were strong competitors of the American Fur 
Company from its organization until their failure in 1821, 
when their fur business was taken over by that company. 
They established an agency at Lee's Place, or Hard- 
scrabble (Chicago) in 1816, putting Crafts in charge. He 
remained there with the firm until its end, when he en- 
tered the service of the American Fur Company, being its 
Chicago agent until his death in 1825. (Andreas History 
of Chicago, vol. 1, p. 93; Hurlbut's Chicago Antiquities, 
31.) 



4 WEBB'S ROUTE 

On the authority of a statement made by Hubbard, 
Baldwin, in his History of La Salle County, says that the 
American Fur Company liad three or four trading posts 
on Rock river from 1813- '14 to 1826- '33, but he does not 
say at what places they were located. 

A letter written by Robert Dickson, the British Agent, 
December 20, 1813, indicates that Lesaliers was then lo- 
cated at Milwaukee. Thwaites, in a note to this letter, 
says this is the LeSellier who acted as guide for Maj. 
Long. (Wis. His. Coll. v. 11, p. 281.) 

Another letter written by Dickson March 9, 1814, men- 
tions *'a letter from La Salieres of the 3d inst.," but does 
not state where he was. 

Niles' Register of July 10, 1815, says that ''La Sallier 
of Milwaukee" was one of the Lidian traders who cast 
their lot with the British in the War of 1812. 

While the records of the American Fur Company show 
that one La Sallier was in that company's service in July 
and September, 1817, they do not show where he was sta- 
tioned. 

That Company had a trader named "Pierre Lassal- 
lier" at Masquognon in 1818. (Wis His. Coll. v. 12, p. 
164.) 

Pierre Lasallier acted as interpreter at a council held 
at Michilimackinac October 24, 1824, with the Potawata- 
mies. (Mich. Pion. Coll. v. 23, p. 453.) 

Blanchard's Map shows the route said to have been 
taken by James Watson Webb in going from Fort Dear- 
born to Fort Armstrong in 1822, but that, evidently, is 
conjectural, for Webb does not describe his route, except 
to say he went to La Sallier 's and thence across the prai- 
rie to the Mississippi. As he was at La Sallier 's early in 
February, 1822, it is quite certain that La Sallier had 
located and built his cabin there before that year, but it 
is not now known just when he did that, or when he left. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 5 

In May, 1822, Congress enacted a statute requiring the 
Secretary of War to report annually an abstract of all 
of the licenses granted to trade with the Indians. Prior 
to that time >there was no such requirement. While these 
reports show that several licenses were granted after 
1820 to persons who desired to trade with the Indians 
at Grand Detour, none was issued to La Sallier. The 
reports state that on October 13, 1821, Alexander Wol- 
cott, Jr., Indian Agent at Chicago, issued a license to 
Maurice Lauzon to trade on "Rocky river" for one year. 
No other license to trade on Rock river was issued until 
October 20, 1823, when Wolcott granted one to Stephen 
Mack, Jr., to trade one year on "Rocky river." 

It is stated in the Wisconsin Historical Collections, v. 
10, p. 72, that "Le Sellier" was enlisted by Maj. Long, as 
a guide, on his journey from Chicago to Prairie du Chien 
in 1823, "because he had lived over thirty years with the 
Indians, had taken a Winnebago wife, and settled on the 
head w^aters of Rock river." Long crossed Rock river 
just above the mouth of the Kishwaukee, and farther 
from the "head waters of Rock river" than from Grand 
Detour. "Le Sellier" took the party to an Indian village 
on the Pecatonica, (probably that of Winnesheik, where 
Freeport now stands), and there obtained another guide, 
as he did not know the way from that place to Prairie du 
Chien. (Keating, Narrative of an Expedition to the 
sources of St. Peter's River.) 

It is apparent that the compilers of the index to the 
Wisconsin Historical Collections considered Lassaliere, 
Lasaliere, Le Sallien and Le Sellier to be different forms 
of the names of one person. Some of their references are 
to the La Sallier who was at Grand Detour, while others 
are to the Pierre La Saliere whose widow married George 
Schindler. These Collections also mention La Salieres, 
Lassalier, La Saliere, Le Sailers and Salieres. The Michi- 
gan Pioneer Collections mention Pierre Lasallier. It is 



6 ALTOWAN 

difficult to gather the real facts from this confused mass, 
but it is believed that all that has been printed about La 
Sallier is set forth herein. 

The records of the parish of Michilimackinac, as print- 
ed in the Wisconsin Historical Collections (v. 19, p. 86), 
show the baptism, August 1, 1786, of ''Therese, about ten 
years old, daughter of Sieur Jean Baptiste Marcot and of 
Thimotee, of the Outaois nation, his lawful wife." To 
this entry Thwaites has added a note saying that Therese 
became the wife, first of Pierre La Saliere, and, later, of 
George Schindler. As Therese was baptized in the Catho- 
lic faith, and it is reasonable to suppose that her husband 
was of that faith, it is not probable that they ever were 
divorced. As she married Schindler July 12, 1804 (Wis. 
His. Coll. V. 18, p. 508), it is fairly certain that her first 
husband was not the La Sallier who was at Grand De- 
tour in 1822. 

In his dedication of " Altowan, or Incidents of Life and 
Adventure in the Rocky Mountains," published in 1846, 
J. Watson Webb says that early in February, 1822, the 
principal chief of the Potawatamies reported to the Lidi- 
an agent at Fort Dearborn that his tribe had been in- 
vited by the Sioux to unite with them to cut oif the garri- 
son at "St. Peters, at the Falls of St. Anthony," where 
Col. Snelling was then stationed with the Fifth Infantry. 
The commanding officer at Fort Dearborn desired to con- 
vey this intelligence to the officer at Fort Armstrong, to 
be thence carried to Col. Snelling, but the voyageurs re- 
fused to go, and thereupon the task of conveying the 
message fell upon Webb, who was an adjutant and he de- 
cided that he would make the trip himself. He set out 
accompanied by a sergeant and a Potawatomi Indian. 

" Allow an" contains nothing relating to Illinois, ex- 
cept that in his dedication Webb says: 

''My instructions were to employ the Pottawatamie as 
a guide to the Rock river, where the country of the Wine- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 7 

bagoes commenced, and then take a Winebago as a guide 
to Fort Armstrong — the leading object being so to ar- 
range our line of travel as to avoid the prairies, upon 
which we would necessarily suffer from the cold. I had 
been apprised that I would find an old Canadian voya- 
guer residing with his Indian family in a trading hut on 
Rock river, and it was to him my Pottawatamie was to 
guide me. 

Toward evening on the fifth day, we reached our place 
of destination ; and old La Sailer, recognizing us as whites 
intimated by signs, as he conducted us to the loft of 
his hut, that we were to preserve a profound silence. All 
who live in the Indian country learn to observe signs; 
and it is wonderful how soon we almost forget to ask 
questions. I knew that something was wrong, but it 
never entered my head to enquire what it was, — Indian- 
like, quite willing to abide my time, even if the finger 
closely pressed upon the lips of the old man had not 
apprised me that I should get no answer until it suited 
his discretion to make a communication. 

It was nearly dark when we were consigned to the loft 
of the good old man ; and for three long hours we saw him 
not. During this period there was abundant time for 
meditation upon our position; when all at once the pro- 
found stillness which reigned in and around the hut was 
broken by the startling sound of a Winebago war-dance 
in our immediate vicinity. This, as you may imagine, 
was no very agreeable sound for my sergeant or myself, 
but it was perfectly horrifying to my Pottawatamie; all 
of which tribe, as also their neighbours, were as much in 
awe of a Winebago, as is a flying-fish of a dolphin. But 
all surprise has its end; and at length the war-dance 
ceased — music of which, at times, could only be likened 
to the shrieks of the damned and then, again, partake of 
the character of the recitative in an Italian opera, until, at 
length, it died away, and all was silence. 

Then came old La Sailer, whose head, whitened by the 



8 WINNEBAGOES BREAK JAIL 

snows of eighty winters, as it showed itself through the 
trap in the floor, was a far more acceptable sight than I 
could have anticipated it would be when I left the fort. 
Having been informed who we were, and my desire to 
procure a Winehago to guide me to Fort Armstrong, he 
inquired whetlier we had not heard the war-dance, and if 
we could not conjecture its object! He then proceeded 
to state that two AVinebagoes, who had been tried and 
sentenced to be executed for the murder of a soldier at 
Fort Armstrong, had t scaped from the jail at Kaskaskia, 
and arrived on the river a few days previous ; that in con- 
sequence, the whole nation was in a state of extraordinary 
excitement and that the war-dance to which we had list- 
ened, was preparatory to the starting of a war party for 
Fort Armstrong to attack it, or destroy such of the garri- 
son as they could meet with beyond its palisades; and 
that of course our only safety was in making an early 
start homeward. I inquired whether I could not avoid the 
Indians by crossing the Great Prairie, and thus striking 
the Mississippi above the fort. He answered, that by 
such a route I would certainly avoid the Indians until I 
reached the vicinity of the Mississippi ; but that we would 
as certainly perish with the cold, as there was no wood 
to furnish fire at night. The mercury in the thermometer, 
as I well knew, had stood at five degrees below zero when 
I left the garrison, and it had certainly been growing 
colder each day; and therefore I apparently acquiesced 
in his advice, and requested to be called some three hours 
before daylight, which would give us a fair start of any 
pursuing party — and bade him good night. 

But the old man doubted my intention to return to the 
fort ; and shortly after paid us another visit, accompanied 
by a very old Winehago, who avowed himself the friend 
of the whites, and proceeded to point out the folly of any 
attempt to proceed in my expedition. He inquired its 
purport; and when I told him it was to visit a dying 
friend, he said I had better postpone the meeting until 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 9 

after death, when we would doubtless meet in the Para- 
dise of the white man! but at the same time gave me to 
understand that he did not believe such was the object of 
my visit to the banks of the Mississippi. Indian-like, he 
sought not to pry farther into my atfairs, but expressed 
his respect for all who knew how to keep their own coun- 
sels and the counsels of their government. His remarks 
were kind, and in the nature of approbation of the past 
and advice for the future, and coming from such a source, 
made a lasting impression. 

Again we were left to ourselves; and then, doubtless, 
I wished myself safe in the garrison. But to return, and 
that too, from fear, and the object of my journey unac- 
complished, was inevitable disgrace. But what was still 
more important, was the consequence to others of my re- 
turn. I could not but think there was an understanding 
between the Winehagoes and the Sioux; and if there' had 
lingered on my mind a doubt of the story of the Potta- 
watamie chief, that doubt was now at an end; and, of 
course, a sense of duty to a whole regiment of officers and 
men, their wives and children, was as imperative in re- 
quiring my advance, as was the fear of disgrace in for- 
bidding my return. With two such motives for a right 
decision, there could be no doubt as to my course. It re- 
quired more courage to retreat than to advance; and I 
determined upon the latter. 

Some hours before the daAVTi of day, we started, appar- 
ently for the garrison; but once out of sight of old La 
Sailer, we knocked the shoes off our horses to avoid being 
traced by them in crossing the river, threw away our 
caps, tore up a blanket to make the hood worn by Indians 
in extreme cold weather, and took a course by the stars 
directly west." 

As there is no other mention of La Sailer in the dedi- 
cation, our quotation ends here. After many troubles 
Webb reached Fort Armstrong and delivered his message 
and the uprising was suppressed. 



10 TRIAL OF WINNEBAGOES 

Webb was then a lieutenant in the Third Infantry. He 
left the army in 1827, after serving eight years. In his 
later years (he died June 7, 1884) he was one of the great 
newspaper men in New York. In a letter written in 1882 
he says he left Fort Dearborn February 4, reaching La 
Sallier's place the evening of the seventh, and leaving 
there at two o'clock in the morning of the eighth when 
the thermometer, as recorded at Fort Armstrong, regis- 
tered twenty-seven below zero. 

Dr. Everett believed that Joseph Ogee married a 
daughter of La Sallier. 

In the Illinois Spectator (Edwardsville) October 31, 
i820, there is an article taken from the St. Louis Enquirer 
saying that on the twenty-seventh of September John 
Harris, a soldier at Fort Armstrong, went out hunting, 
and on the fifth of October his body was found shot 
and scalped. Two Winnebagoes left Rock Island on the 
morning of September 27 and there were no other Indians 
in the neighborhood at the time. Afterwards, six or 
seven Winnebagoes visited Fort Armstrong and were 
admitted. Major Marston, then in command of the fort, 
held three of the Winnebago chiefs as hostages until they 
delivered the two Winnebagoes who were said to have 
committed the murder. The Spectator adds there were 
two Indians then confined in jail at Edwardsville who 
were charged with having committed that murder. 

The report made by William Clark, Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs, of his expenditures in May, June and 
July, 1821, shows several items on account of the trial at 
Kaskaskia of two Winnebagoes who were indicted for 
murder, and indicates that the prisoners and witnesses 
traveled great distances to attend the trial. The report 
does not state who the Indians were, where the crime was 
committed, who was the victim, or the result of the trial. 
(Am. State Papers, Indian Affairs, v. 2, pp. 297, et seq.) 



STEPHEN MACK. 

The first white man to make his home in the Rock river 
valley was Stephen Mack. It is quite certain that he 
lived in tlie house he bought from La Sallier near Grand 
Detour some time before 1830. Apparently, this makes 
him the first white settler. But, if we mean by settler 
one who established his permanent abode in a certain 
place. Mack was not the first settler in Lee county. 

When his remains were removed, in 1880, from the 
place of their first interment on his farm to the Phillips 
cemetery, near Harrison, in Winnebago County, by his 
old friends, they placed in a bottle, buried there with 
the remains, a paper reading thus: 

"If in the course of time this paper should meet 
the eye of any person, be it known that the remains 
buried here are those of Stephen Mack and his Indian 
wife, Ho-no-ne-gah. 

Stephen Mack was born in Poultney, Vermont, 
February, 1799, and settled in this county about 1822 
as an Indian trader, and continued as a resident 
until his death in 1850, Mrs. Mack having previously 
died. 

At the time of Mack's death he owned all of sec- 
tion twenty-three in this township south of the Peca- 
tonica River, and resided thereon at the time of his 
death. He was buried not far from where he lived 
by the side of his wife on his own land. Soon after 
his death, his children sold the land and went to 
Minnesota with their mother's friends, and at this 
time there are no relatives of Mack here. 

The place where he was first buried being in a large 
field, and the land under cultivation over his remains, 
the undersigned friends of Mack and his wiie in 
their lifetime, have moved the remains to this place, 
and placed a tombstone over the same. This is done 
out of respect and friendship for our departed 
friends. 

Stephen Mack was the first permanent white in- 
habitant of Rock River valley. He was a good citi- 

(11) 



12 DATE OF BIRTH 

zen, a generous friend, a gentleman in deportment 

and an honest man. 

J. R. Jewett, 
WiLiAM Halley, 

E. H. COMSTOCK. 

Rockton, May 19th, 1880. 

In his History of Bockton, Carr, referring to the date 
of Mack's birth, adds to the foregoing this note: 

"Some think this is not correct, for he must have 
been from ten to fifteen years older when he died 
than this date would make him." 

In his list of births, marriages and deaths in Rockton, 
Carr says Mack was born in 1799. It may be that in the 
time passing between the writing of the note and this list 
of births Carr found evidence justifying the statement 
that Mack was born in 1799, but he does not show any, 
or he may have followed that statement because he was 
unable to learn the exact date. 

The family history recorded in the bible of his daugh- 
ter, Mrs. Mary Stocker-Terrill, says Mack was born in 
Tunbridge, Orange County, Vermont, February 20, 1798. 

Carr says Mack ' * came w^est to Detroit with his father 's 
family, soon after the close of the war of 1812, where his 
father held some position under the government, and 
might have had some connection with the fur business." 

In a History of Rock County, Wisconsin, published in 
1879, it is said, apparently upon the strength of state- 
ments made by R. P. Crane and 0. P. Bicknell as to con- 
versations with Mack, that he was a native of Keene, New 
Hampshire, and was living at Rockton in the spring of 
1837, and that he then said that he "had been living with 
the Indians for more than sixteen years," and had been 
adopted by the Winnebagoes after he married the daugh- 
ter of their chief. 

A History of Oakland County, Michigan, (1887) based 
chiefly upon statements made by Almon Mack, a son of 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 13 

the elder Stephen, says that while the latter settled in 
Detroit in 1807, he left his family in Vermont where the 
educational facilities were far better than those Michigan 
then had, and that his family, except one daughter, Lovicy, 
who joined him about 1818, did not come west until 1822. 

The family history says the younger Mack bought the 
La Sallier cabin shortly after his marriage in February, 
1829. 

From the Michigan Pioneer Collections it appears that 
Stephen Mack, father of the Stephen Mack who lived at 
Grand Detour, was the first Yankee to open a store in De- 
troit where he began business in 1807, dealing in dry 
goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, etc. He was a mem- 
ber of the firm of Mack & Conant. That firm engaged in 
the fur business as early as 1816, and there is abundant 
evidence that it prosecuted that business so actively and 
energetically that it was a very lively competitor of the 
American Fur Company. They established an agency, 
for their fur business, in Chicago as early as 1816, and op- 
erated it until about the time of their failure in 1821, when 
that part of their business was taken over by the Ameri- 
can Fur Company. John Crafts represented them at 
Chicago all the time they maintained their agency there. 
After that he joined the Fur Company. 

The elder Mack was a member of the first legislative 
council of the territory of Michigan. With others he 
founded the town of Pontiac, Michigan, where he died in 
1826. 

Carr says the younger Stephen Mack '^ attended Dart- 
mouth College, in New Hampshire, for a time, but seemed 
to have left college before he graduated." This is an 
error, as the secretary of that college states that "the 
name of Stephen Mack does not appear on our records." 

Carr's book purports to be a history of Rockton from 
"1820 to 1898," and this may give the impression that 
Mack settled at Macktown in 1820, but the text of the 
book does not support such an idea. 



14 MACK REACHES GRAND DETOUR 

From Carr's History it appears that the younger Mack 
joined a government expedition around the lakes, and 
while at Green Bay met some traders who told him that 
the Rock river country was a good place for one lo es- 
tablish a trading post. He promptly started for Rock 
river, reaching it near where Janesville stands. Thence 
he followed down the river until he reached the Indian 
settlement known as Turtle village, near Beloit Junction. 
There he learned of an Indian camp at Bird's Grove, 
about two miles downi the river from Rockton, at the 
mouth of Dry Run Creek, and he started for it only to 
lose his way and wander about until he reached the 
Potawatamie village at Grand Detour, and for two or 
three years traded with the Indians there, taking their 
furs in exchange for his articles of traffic, and carrying 
his merchandise to and from Chicago on the backs of 
Indian ponies. 

The law permitted the Indian Agents to issue licenses 
to trade with the Indians to such persons as they thought 
proper, and at such places as the agents designated in 
the licenses, and it required the Secretary of War to re- 
port to Congress each year an abstract of the licenses is- 
sued. The reports made under this requirement show 
that on October 20, 1823, Alexander Wolcott, Jr., Indian 
Agent at Chicago, issued to Stephen Mack, Jr., a license 
to trade on Rock river with the Indians for one year 
with a capital of two thousand dollars, {IStli Cong., 2d 
Sess.; Ho. Doc. 54) and on September 6, 1824, Wolcott 
issued a license to Mack to trade on Rock river with the 
Indians for one year with a capital of one thousand dol- 
lars. {19tli Cong., 1st Sess.; Ho. Doc. 118.) 

There is no report of the issue of any other license to 
Mack until October 5, 1826, when Wolcott granted him a 
license to trade with the Indians for one year on ''Rocky 
River" with a capital of twenty-five hundred dollars. 
{20th Cong.; 1st Sess.; Ho. Doc. 140.) Nothing has been 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 15 

found that shows what Mack was doing in the interval 
between the second and third licenses, except that he 
served as clerk and voted at an election of a constable 
held in the Chicago precinct May 11, 1826. (Address by 
Judge David McCulloch on Early Days of Peoria and 
Chicago, delivered before the Chicago Historical Society, 
January 19, 1904.) 

The Reports of the Secretary of War do not show that 
any other licenses were issued to Mack, yet he continued 
to trade with the Indians as long as any of them remained 
in his neighborhood, and it is known that thev were trad- 
ing with him in June, 1835, at Bird's Grove. As John 
Dixon traded with the Indians at Dixon's Ferry from 
1830 until they left the state, and never had a license to 
do so, and as no trading licenses were issued for any 
places on Rock river above Prophetstown after 1827, it 
would seem the general belief then was that such licenses 
were not then required for that territory, although as late 
as February, 1829, the Secretary of War reported that 
trading posts were then established at ''Grand Detour 
on Rocky river * * * and on Rock river." {20th 
Cong., 2d Sess.; Ho. Doc. 117.) 

''Mack's relation with this tribe was not produc- 
tive of the best of feeling; and although he had taken 
the chief's daughter, Ho-no-ne-gah, for his wife, still 
his life was in danger, because he refused to sell 
firearms and liquor to the tribe. During one of his 
trips to Chicago with three of his ponies, a plan was 
fully matured to dispose of him on his return, and 
take possession of his effects. His Indian wife, learn- 
ing of their intentions, was on the lookout for her 
husband's return, and meeting him far out from 
camp, apprised him of his danger. It was quick 
work for her to mount one of the ponies, and to- 
gether they started out for the Winnebago tribe at 
Bird's grove, where they were gladly welcomed and 
promised protection. It became their future home 
for a number of years." (Carr.) 



16 VOTES IN CHICAGO 

It is to be noted that Carr does not state the year in 
which Mack located at Grand Detour, or the year he 
joined the Winnebagoes at Bird's Grove and no evidence 
has been found that will enable one to fix either date. 

In his ''Politics and Politicians of Chicago/' published 
in 1886, Bennett says Stephen Mack was a clerk em- 
ployed by the American Fur Company, and a son of 
Major Mack of Detroit, and that he voted "in the Chi- 
cago precinct of Peoria county," at an election in Chi- 
cago, for a justice of the peace and a constable, held July 
24, 1830 ; that he married an Indian woman and ' ' finally 
settled in Pecatonica, Winnebago county." Bennett and 
John Wentworth, in his lecture on Early Chicago (Fergus 
Historical Series, v. 8, p. 55) give a list "of those voting 
at a special election held in the Chicago precinct No- 
vember 25, 1830, but Mack's name is not there. Nor is 
it in the list Bennett gives of those voting at the state 
election August 7, 1826. 

Andreas in his "History of Chicago," says that Mack 
voted at the election held in the Chicago precinct August 
2, 1830, and describes him as a "Clerk of American Fur 
Company. 

In this connection it is well to remember that these elec- 
tions were held in Chicago and that no part of what is 
now AVinnebago county ever was in the "Chicago pre- 
cinct" of Peoria county. 

It appears from his letters that he made his home on 
Rock river during the winter months. The fact that he 
voted in Chicago indicates that he considered that place 
his home. 

Andreas also says that Stephen Mack bought lots seven 
and eight, in block forty-three, in the original town of 
Chicago, September 29, 1830, for $53. This block is bound- 
ed by West Randolph, North Market and West Washing- 
ton streets and, on the west, by the old East Water street 
(now vacated). 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 17 

In his later years Mack visited Grand Detour several 
times, and from what he said on those visits, as it was re- 
peated by Charles Throop to others, it is known that Mack 
bought La Sallier's cabin and occupied it until he moved 
to Bird's Grove. He was living at Bird's Grove in 
May, 1832. If the family history is correct in saying that 
he bought the cabin soon after his marriage in 1829, it is 
clear he did not occupy the cabin for any great length of 
time. 

Kett's History of Winnebago County (1877) says Mack 
was living in that county as early as 1829. 

In their Atlas of Illinois, published in 1876, Warner 
and Beers say Mack was living at Bird's Grove in 1829. 

Jefferson Davis, a Lieutenant in the First Infantry, 
was stationed at Fort Winnebago in the fall of 1829 and 
remained there until 1831. He said, ''When sent on vari- 
ous expeditions I crossed Rock River at different points, 
but saw^ no sign of settlement above Dixon's Ferry." 
(Jefferson Davis, A Memoir, by Varina Davis.) 

"Mack was living in peace and quietude with the 
Indians at the breaking out of the Black Hawk war. 
After the battle of Stillman Valley, when that re- 
nowned chief visited this tribe to induce them to fol- 
low him on his journey northward, Mack used his in- 
fluence against such a movement ; and although Black 
Hawk was very angry with the white trader, the little 
tribe remained on their old camping ground, and the' 
great chief marched on without them. 

It is said that the feeling was so strong against 
Mack during the visit of Black Hawk, that the chief 
of the tribe advised him to go away for a time for 
personal safety. Accordingly he privately went to 
an island in the river, now known as Webber's island, 
where he was supplied with food by his faithful wife 
until it was safe for him to return. This may be an 
actual fact or a romance, but it is given for what it is 
worth." (Carr.) 



18 BLACK HAWK WAR 

Both fact and romance are in this statement. Black 
Hawk did visit the Indians near Bird's Grove to persnade 
them to join him, and Mack did leave his home ; but botli 
these events occurred before the battle of Stillman Valley. 
Mack may have stayed at Webber's island, but if so it 
was only for a short time. 

That Mack took part in the Black Hawk War is evi- 
dent from his letters to his sister, Mrs. Lovicy Cooper, 
reading as follows : 

Chicago, May 30, 1832. 
Dear Sister : 

I am happy in having an opportunity of informing 
you and the rest of my relations at Detroit and Pon- 
tine that I am still alive and well. We are at war at 
present with the Socks Indians. 

I left my wintering ground or trading station on 
the 9th inst. and as I left it the Socks took possession 
of my house but were prevented from injuring me 
or my men by the Winabagoe Indians who claimed 
me as their friend and trader. Immediately on my 
arrival at this place I joined witli the Inhabitants of 
this place, took up arms and garrisoned fort Dear- 
bourn, and we have been able by that means to afford 
protection to all of the inhabitants of the surrounding 
country that could get in in season, but I am sorry 
to say that our force was too small to enable us to go 
to the assistance of such as could not get in in season 
to serve themselves and in consequence three fam- 
ilies consisting of 14 persons were killed and several 
houses burned. After being reinforced by those who 
got in from tlie outer settlements, we went out in pur- 
suit of the murderers, but could not find them and 
after burying the dead we came back to wait for 
reinforcements to enable us to fight our way through 
to the main army (which was last heard from near 
my trading post on Rocky River) and assist in pun- 
ishing the marauders. * * * 

Chicago, June 13, 1832. 
Dear Sister: * * * 

I have been out on one expedition against the Sauke 
Indians since my last letter, but we could not find 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 19 

them where we expected, and were obliged to return 
and wait for reinforcements to enable us to penetrate 
further into the country. General Atkinson will be 
on the move again in a few days, and General J. R. 
Williams, (now at this place) will probably move on 
to his assistance. In tliat case I shall join him with 
a few volunteer mounted riflemen from this place. 
You need be under no apprehension on my account 
for I can assure you that all of the accounts that 
you receive from the seat of war are very much ex- 
aggerated. It is really amusing to me who see all 
the operation and know perhaps better than almost 
any one the real danger, to read the accounts of ma- 
neuvers of the enemy never thought of by them, and 
of battles never fought. And then to sit down and 
listen to the remarks of the raw Yankees who have 
lately emigrated to this country, one would think 
that Napoleon Bonaparte had risen from the grave 
and presented himself in the person of the Black- 
hawk and that the spirit of his millions of heroes 
were concentrated in the 5 or 600 warriors led by that 
chief. I by no means wish to undervalue our enemies, 
they are brave and subtle and it may be dangerous 
to encounter them without an overwhelming force, 
but I can by no means approve of the tardy opera- 
tions of our chief officers, for it gives time to the 
nimble footed Indians to ravage our frontier settle- 
ments and bathe their hands in the blood of helpless 
women and unsuspecting infants. Had more prompt 
measures been pursued in the commencement, I have 
no doubt but many lives would have been spared and 
we should have been at this moment in the full en- 
joyment of peace." 

Mack's reference to the burial of those killed by the 
Indians undoubtedly is to the massacre at Indian Creek, 
La Salle county. May 20, 1832, and aids us in determining 
the command of which he was a part. 

Five companies of volunteers were raised in Cook 
county for service in the Black Hawk war. One of them, 
raised in the immediate vicinity of Chicago, was organ- 
ized May 3, 1832, and commanded by Captain Gholson 



20 CAPT. BROWNS COMPANY 

Kercheval. Captain James AValker commanded a com- 
pany raised in the neighborhood of Plainfield and en- 
rolled June 19. Captain Joseph Naper's company was 
organized July 19, nearly all of its members living in the 
vicinity of Naperville. A company commanded by Cap- 
tain Holden Seission was organized July 23. The muster 
rolls of four of these companies have been preserved, but 
the name of Stephen Mack does not appear on any of 
them. 

Andreas, in his History of Chicago, v. 1, p. 269, says 
that some thirty of those in Kercheval 's company also 
enrolled in a company commanded by Captains Jesse B. 
Brown and Richard J. Hamilton, and that this company 
— Joseph Naper being a member — made a scouting tour 
through the country as far as Holderman's Grove, Plain- 
field and Ottawa, and that the remains of those massa- 
cred at Indian Creek were buried by the men of this 
company. The muster roll of this company was not 
preserved. 

In the chapter of his History of Chicago that was 
written in February, 1854, Bross says that ''late in the 
month of May, 1832, a small force consisting of twenty- 
five men, was organized in the fort under the command of 
Capt. J. B. Brown, with Capt. Joseph Naper and Col. 
R. J. Hamilton," and that this command buried the 
bodies of those killed in the massacre, and then went to 
Ottawa where it joined a part of a company from Taze- 
well county under Major Bailey, and the whole detach- 
ment then proceeded to Chicago under the command of 
Major Bailey. 

A History of Du Page County, by C. W. Richmond and 
H. F. Vallette (1857), says that members of a 
company raised in Chicago and commanded by Captain 
Brown and Colonel Hamilton assisted the men of Still- 
man's command, under Colonel Johnson, in burying the 



EARLY LEE COUNTY il 

bodies of those massacred at. Indian Creek. (Baskin's 
History of Du Page Couniy, p. 37.) 

In his Memories of Shaiihena, Matson says the burial 
was by "a company of rangers, under Captain Naper, or 
Brown, from Chicago" and a party from Putnam county. 

In a letter written May 26, 1832, T. J. V. Owen, then 
Indian Agent at Chicago, says "The party of mounted 
men who left here some days since upon an Indian excur- 
sion has this moment returned" after burying the bodies 
of those slain in this massacre. (Mich. Pioneer Coll., 
V. 21, p. 368.) 

Bearing in mind the fact that the letters of Mack and 
Owen were written when the facts they mention were 
fresh in the mind, it seems clear that Mack was in Cap- 
tain Brown's company, and that he did assist in the 
burial of the victims of the massacre. 

After the capture of Black Hawk he returned to Bird's 
Grove and spent the winter there, going back to Chicago 
in the early part of May, 1833. 

In a letter to his sister, written at Chicago, Aug-ust 24, 
1833, he said: "We are preparing for the Indian Treaty 
which is to take place next month. After the payment 
of the Indian annuities I shall take my departure for 
my winter quarters in the west as usual." 

In the treaty made at Chicago, September 26, 1833, w^ith 
the Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians, provi- 
sion was made for the payment of six hundred dollars 
to Rosa and Mary, children of "Hoo-mo-ni gah," wife of 
Stephen Mack; five hundred dollars to Stephen Mack, "in 
trust for the heirs of Stephen Mack, deceased," and three 
hundred and fifty dollars to Stephen Mack, Jr. This pro- 
'dsion for "the heirs of Stephen Mack, deceased," is puz- 
zling, unless it was intended to pay some old debt the 
Indians owed the elder Mack. 

With the exception of Stephen Mack, the first perma- 
nent white settlers in Rockton were William Talcott ana 



22 MACKTOWN 

his son Thomas B. Talcott. The latter kept a journal in 
which he wrote the events of the various days passing as 
they went about northern Illinois looking for a desirable 
place to make a home. Under date of Saturday, July 25, 
1835, he says they forded a river, ' ' crossed a small prairie, 
went into the woods and came to Stephen Mack's Indian 
trading establishment, and once more put up with a white 
man who had a squaw wife. Found we were on the bank 
of Rock river, two miles below the mouth of the Peca- 
tonica and six miles south of the line of Wisconsin ter- 
ritory." On the next day he wrote: "Shall stay with 
our friend Mack today. There are no inhabitants in sev- 
eral miles except the Indians, who come around and Mack 
trades with .them today as much as any day. All days are 
alike to the children of the forest. Mack is in the employ 
of the American Fur Company, and has been all his life. 
The Indians have confidence in him and he has no 
trouble." 

Mack thought that the blutf at the mouth of the Peca- 
tonica river 

** would be a good place to locate a town in view of 
river navigation, and was in correspondence with a 
Mr. Bradstreet, of Albany, N. Y., on the advent of 
the first white settlers in 1835. It was then consid- 
ered that the Pecatonica was a navigable stream for 
one hundred miles from its mouth, and Rock River 
one hundred and fifty miles up into the territory of 
Wisconsin. With this large prospect in view, the 
mouth of the Pecatonica River was a very desirable 
location for a town. Accordingly Mack took posses- 
sion of this tract of land in the fall of 1835, and per- 
manently resided there until his death. * * * The 
place took the name of Macktown, which it still re- 
tains, although the once flourishing settlement has 
entirely disappeared, save the substantial farm house 
which he built there. * * * Mack had his town 
platted, as he owned all of section twenty- three south 
of Pecatonica River and sold many lots. In the 
height of his prosperity he valued a corner lot near 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 23 

his store at $1,000. When tokl that his land was 
too uneven for a town, he said *it is far better than 
Milwaukee.'" (Carr.) 

In 1834, Congress enacted a law granting to Lewis 
Banezakiewitz, and his associates, being two hundred 
thirty-five exiles from Poland, who were transported to 
the United States by the order of the Emperor of Austria, 
the right to purchase, at the minimum price, thirty-six 
sections of land, to be selected by them under the direc- 
tion of the Secretary of the Treasury, in any three ad- 
jacent townships in Illinois or Michigan. Baron Louis 
Chlopicki and John Prehal were authorized to act as 
the agents of these exiles in selecting the land, and 
Chlopicki selected two large tracts of land in Winnebago 
county that were not connected with each other. One 
of them contained ten thousand, nine hundred and sev- 
enty acres and included practically all tlie land within 
the present city of Rockford, and the other contained 
twelve thousand acres in the present town of Rockton, in- 
cluding, with other lands, sections twenty-three and twen 
ty-six. As soon as this was known in the neighborhood, 
the men who had settled in that territory and made claim 
to the lands they occupied, and who had organized a 
claim protective association, appointed a committee to 
resist this selection. Mack, a member of the claim asso- 
ciation, was made chairman of this special committee, as 
he had made claim to the west half of section twenty-six 
and that part of section twenty-three south of the river 
in the present town of Rockton. In October, 1837, this 
committee sent a petition to William L. May, Congress- 
man of that district, and Richard M. Young, one of our 
United States Senators, stating that the petitioners were 
actual residents upon the land they occupied prior to 
the fall of 1835, and some of them in 1834; that Chlo- 
picki, knowing that they were in possession of these lands, 
had promised them that tliey would not be disturbed; yet, 
disregarding his promise, he had selected twenty sections, 



24 WINNEBAGO PAYMENT 

sixteen of which were then occupied by the petitioners, 
who felt aggrieved because, following the custom of the 
country, they had entered upon the land in good faith and 
made improvements thereon, intending to buy the land 
as soon as it was put upon the market. They expressed 
a willingness to buy their peace by making a fair com- 
promise with Chlopicki, and asked for legislation that 
would enable them to secure the lands they occupied and 
thus save the cost of their improvements and labor. (25th 
Comj.; 3d Scss.; Sen. Doc. 161.) The result was the 
passage of the Act of April 14, 1842, which declared that 
Chlopicki 's selections had not been made lawfully, and 
it speciiically gave the residents an opportunity to per- 
fect their claims, and permitted the exiles to select other 
lands. 

By the treaty made at Washington November 1, 1837, 
the Winnebagoes ceded all their land east of the Mis- 
sissippi and agreed to remove therefrom within eight 
months after the ratification of the treaty. The treaty 
provided for the payment of various sums, aggregatilig 
$38,000, to certain persons named, out of the sum of 
$200,000, and that the balance ''shall be applied to the 
debts of the nation, which may be ascertained to be justly 
due, and which maj" be admitted by the Indians, pro- 
vided, that if all their debts shall amount to more than 
this balance, their creditors shall be paid pro rata, upon 
their giving receipts in full," and that no claim for depre- 
dations should be allowed. Provision was also made for 
the payment, under the direction of the President, to the 
relations and friends of the Winnebagoes "having not 
less than one-(iuarter of Winnebago blood" of the sum 
of $100,000. The commissioners appointed to adjust these 
claims proceeded to Prairie du Chien where they met the 
Indians and the various claimants in 1838. The report of 
the Secretary of War shows that Stephen Mack presented 
a claim for $6,500 for merchandise sold the AVinnebagoes 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 25 

which the commissioners allowed at $2,500 and, the claims 
exceeding the balance, paid him his proportion, — $2,- 
329.50. The commissioners also paid to him the sum of 
one thousand dollars for each of his five children, Rosa, 
age eight; Mary, age six; William, age four; Louisa, age 
two and one-half, and Thomas H., one year, "for valuable 
services the father and mother rendered, and the dis- 
position and ability of the children to do so." 

When the pioneer steamboat "Gypsy" made her mem- 
orable voyage up Rock river in 1838, "Mack heard the 
steamer's whistle as she came around the bend in the 
river and hurried down to the shore to drive a stake 
for them to tie up to on his side of the river," but he was 
disappointed, as she tied to a stake on the other side of 
the river. (Carr.) 

"In 1839 Mack built the large two story house 
which is now (1898) the sole survivor of that early 
settlement. At the time of its erection, it was the best 
house west of the lake, and but few equaled it in Chi- 
cago. It was built on a good stone foundation, the 
first in the place, and when completed was painted, 
which was a luxury rarely indulged in during those 
early times. He occupied this house until his death. 
He built other houses, but they did not involve such 
an outlay of money. * * * The first one built west 
of Mack's house was a frame structure, and a story 
and a half high. The lower part was occupied for 
several years by Sylvester Stevens, as a furniture 
room and work shop. The upper story was reached 
by stairs on the outside, and was first used for a 
school house for Mack's children and such others as 
lived in the vicinity. Some Indian children were in- 
duced to attend for a time, but all the effort put forth 
to educate them was comparatively labor lost. The 
different teachers were paid almost wholly by Mr. 
Mack. This school was kept up until he built his 
school house in another part of the place, about 
1846. (Carr.) 



26 MACK'S FERRY 

He established a ferry across Rock river about 1838 
and ran it for some time. It was operated until 1843 
when he, and his associates, David Jewett and Merrill 
E. Mack, a cousin, under a charter granted by the state, 
built what was commonly called Mack's bridge, the first 
to span Rock river in Illinois. Mack furnished the 
greater part of the money for this venture. The bridge 
had a draw span that gave a clear channel thirty-six 
feet wide. It was entirely destroyed by a freshet June 1, 
1851, and never rebuilt. 

Carr says, '^ George Stevens' family came in '38. He 
was postmaster about 1840, following after Mack in the 
office." He does not state when Mack was appointed. 

Mack conducted a store for several years, being as- 
sisted for some time by his cousin Merrill E. Mack, but 
this venture proved to be disastrous, as appears from 
his letter of August 26, 1847, to his sister, in which he 
says : 

* * *"You inquire about my circumstances. I 
will answer. I lost from $4000 to $5000 by our late 
Cousin Merrel E. Mack. I furnished him cash to 
carry on business, and when he died his estate proved 
insolvent and all I got was in old goods or other 
worthless trash. This has reduced my means so 
that I have given up trade and am now working one 
or two good farms which I own. I hold two or three 
small offices which occupies a portion of my time, but 
does not add much to my income. I owe no man a 
Dollar and never will. I pride myself in maintaining 
a character far above the possibility of reproach in 
pecuniary matters, and the result is I am burdened 
with every petty office of trust that has no compen- 
sating salary, in my neighborhood." 

After the collapse of the State Internal Improvement 
scheme he took an active part in the effort to induce Con- 
gress to donate 150,000 acres for the improvement of the 
navigation of Rock river from its mouth to the terminus 
of the proposed Milwaukee and Rock River canal, and, 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 27 

acting upon a resolution adopted at a meeting held in 
Eockford in January, 1840, joined with several hundred 
others in a memorial to Congress for that purpose. Noth- 
ing came of the effort except the printing of the memo- 
rial by order of the Senate in May, 1840. Many of the 
signers of this memorial were active in public affairs in 
the valley in later years, among them being John Deere, 
W. A. House, Solon Cumins, Charles Throop, Chester 
Badger, Abram Brown, Joseph Crawford, T. D. Board- 
man, I. S. Boardman, A. L. Porter, M. Fellows, 0. P. 
Ayers, E. Southwick, N. G. H. Morrill, B. B. Loveland, 
D. B. McKenny and Carlton Bailey. 

He was appointed and served as a delegate from Win- 
nebago county to the convention held at Eockford Jan- 
uary 7, 1846, for the purpose of taking measures to secure 
the construction of a railroad from Galena to Chicago. 
(Stennett, History of the Chicago S Northwestern Ry. 
Co.) 

He took an active interest in the public affairs of his 
community, serving as school treasurer and postmaster. 
In March, 1847, he was appointed one of the "special 
commissioners" who were, by the statute incorporating 
the Eockford Hydraulic and Manufacturing Company, 
charged with the duty of determining "the size and loca- 
tion of the lock or locks ' ' that company might be required 
to construct in its dam at Eockford. He was a justice of 
the peace ; elected in the district in which he lived. 

Carr's History of Rockton says "Mack was elected 
associate justice of the peace in 1849, and held the office 
as long as he lived." The History of Winnebago County 
published by Kett, in 1877, says Mack was an associate 
justice in 1849-1850. That office would have made Mack 
a member of the Countv Court, but his name does not 
appear on the records of that court as a member. It does 
not appear, as that of a member of the court, on the rec- 
ords of the County Commissioner's Court which went 
out of existence in that county in November, 1849. 



28 HO-NO-NE-GAH 

At the first election in Winnebago county after the 
adoption of the township organization, April 2, 1850, he 
was a candidate for supervisor, but was defeated by 
Sylvester Talcott bv a vote of 58 to 45, 

The statement in the family history that he married in 
February, 1829, undoubtedly refers to his marriage to 
Ho-no-ne-gah. He remarried her, Carr says, September 
14, 1840, according to the rites and customs of the white 
man. She died in Julj^, 1847. Her white neighbors con- 
sidered her a faithful and devoted wife, a woman of more 
than ordinary ability and one who cheerfully aided all 
whenever opportunity offered. Carr says she was 
"largely absorbed in the care of her home and children, 
save when sickness of the early settlers called for her 
kind and skillful care and attention. Then with her 
supply of nature's remedies which the Great Spirit had 
so kindly spread out all around her, she would seek out 
the afflicted and bring sunshine and relief to many a 
suffering one who fell a prey to the ills of a new country. 
The high tribute of respect to Mack's Indian wife was 
genuine and sincere, and although of a dusky hue, she 
possessed a noble soul and did all she could to make those 
around her comfortable and happy. 

Not only in sickness w^ere her many virtues shown in a 
marked degree, but the poor and destitute around her 
incident to the struggles of many an early settler, shared 
of her provisions in a generous manner. She delighted 
in doing good. Only once was she known to assume the 
garb of her pale-face sisters, and then it was by great 
solicitation ; but she felt so ill at ease, and afraid to make 
herself conspicuous, she soon laid it aside and forever 
after was content with the costume of her tribe. Mrs. 
Jesse Blinn who was a near neighbor says of her: "She 
was very skillful in ornamenting her clothing. She made 
herself for extra occasions an Indian dress of fine blue 
broadcloth, with a border five inches deep all around it, 
worked with various colored ribbons ; her taste in blend- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 29 

ing colors to have a pleasing effect was very fine, and 
her needle work almost perfect. Many articles about 
her home bore witness of her skillful handiwork. Being 
a Pottawatomie, she like her tribe, felt above the Winne- 
bago as in skill, and showed much ability in fashioning 
many articles of merchandise. ' ' 

John Blackhawk, an intelligent and well-educated Win- 
nebago says that Ho-no-ne-gah is a Winnebago word 
meaning "dear little one," and is the name given the 
first girl born in a Winnebago family. 

In a letter to his sister, after the death of Ho-no-ne-gah, 
Mack said : 

''You say you perceive by the notice in the paper 
that my wife died a Christian. Lovicy, if I know 
what a Christian is, she was one. She not only died 
a Christian, but she lived one. Not by profession, 
but by her every act. Her every deed proclaimed 
her a follower of Christ. In her the hungry and 
naked have lost a benefactor, the sick a nurse, and I 
have lost a friend who taught me to reverence God 
by doing good to his creatures. ' ' 

Mack had no children by his second wife, but Ho-no-ne- 
gah bore him eleven, two of whom died in infancy. The 
others were: 

Rose (so named in his will, though sometimes 
called Rosa), born November 14, 1830. In conse- 
quence of illness she was a mute ; attended school at 
the Illinois Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at Jack- 
sonville; married and became a teacher there. 

Mary, born July 15, 1832, was married twice — first 
to Charles Stocker, and then to Terrill. 

William H., born July 17, 1834. Married his sister- 
in-law, Julia Stocker. Was a soldier in the Union 
army during the Rebellion. 

Louisa, born May 6, 1836. Married L. L. Curtiss. 

Thomas H., born February 8, 1838. Soldier in the 
Union army during the Rebellion. 

Henry C, born December 1, 1839; died Januarv 1, 
1849. 



30 DEATH 

Edward, born December 3, 1841. Soldier in the 
Union army in the Rebellion, dying from injuries 
received in that service. 

Matilda, born November 26, 1843. Married Ed. 
Drake. 

Caroline, born October 16, 1845. Married Arthur 
F. Newberry. Now (1918) living in Pontiac, Michi- 
gan. She is the only one of his children living now. 

On February 24, 1848, Mack married Mrs. Isabelle Dan- 
iels, o.f Harrison, Illinois. He died, very suddenly, April 
10, 1850. Soon after his estate was settled all his chil- 
dren, except Caroline, who went to live with her father's 
brother Almon, left for Minnesota or Wisconsin, to join 
the friends of their mother. At the time of his death he 
owned about one thousand acres of land around Mack- 
toA\m. 

He was a good man, a good citizen and a great force 
for good in the development of the new country. 

Rett's History of Winnebago County says he was tall, 
erect as an Indian, dignified and manly in his bearing. 

These facts conclusively show that Mack regarded his 
place at Bird's Grove merely as a winter trading sta- 
tion, and that he did not consider it his home until after 
August, 1833. This being the case, it is evident that he 
was not the first permanent white settler in the Rock 
river valley, for in April, 1830, John Dixon settled at 
Ogee's Ferry, Avhere the city of Dixon grew up around 
him, and remained there until his death in July, 1876. 



THE FUR TRADE AT GRAND DETOUR. 

It is a singular fact tliat of all those writing upon the 
history of Lee or Ogle counties not one has mentioned the 
fur trade that was carried on at Grand Detour for many 
years. 

There is an a.bundance of convincing evidence that the 
Rock river country was a rich field for the fur buyers 
and that Grand Detour was considered to be a very good 
location for one engaged in that trade. 

The Indian was improvident, giving little thought to 
the future, and making but scant provision for it. When 
the early frosts reminded him of the coming of the winter 
with its hardships he appealed to the white men for food, 
blankets, powder, bullets and shot. These were given 
him cheerfully and in abundance by the licensed trader 
whose security was the Indian's promise to pay by de- 
livering furs. 

There are still living persons who have heard John 
Dixon say that the only money he lost by trusting an 
Indian was due from one who was killed on a hunting trip. 
Governor Lewis Cass of Michigan and Gen. William 
Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, St. Louis, and 
no others had a better knowledge of the Indians than 
they possessed, said that the Indian w^as honest and did 
pay as he promised, unless he was begiiiled by some 
rival trader Avho offered more. (20th Cong.; 2nd Sess. ; 
Sen. Doc. 67.) 

The red man was governed by his own law, and that 
was — if, by the fortunes of the hunt, he was unable to 
pay from the proceeds of the season following the day 
he was given credit, he was under no obligation to pay 
at any time, — the debt was satisfied. But the trader was 
Ijersistent and the next time his debtor's tribe entered 
into a treaty with the United States for the sale of land, 
the trader was present, and all accounts of that char- 



32 TRADING POSTS 

acter were provided for in that treaty and paid by the 
United States. There is good reason for the belief that 
some of the treaties by which the Indian parted with his 
land were instigated by the traders who had bills to 
collect. 

Under the Treaty of November 1, 1837, with the Winne- 
bagoes, commissioners were appointed to adjust the 
claims against that tribe, and they reported that the " Win- 
nebagoes were known to be generally honest," and that it 
was the general belief of the Winnebagoes that if they 
were miable to pay their debts in two years, some said 
in one year, then, the debt became one of the nation or 
tribe and the individual was absolved from all obliga- 
tion to pay it, but it should be paid out of moneys pro- 
vided for that purpose by the United States. {25th 
Cong.; 3d Sess.; Ho. Doc. 229.) 

In 1796 Congress enacted a law authorizing the presi- 
dent to establish trading houses at such posts and places 
as he should judge most convenient for trade with the 
Indians, and empowered him to appoint an agent for each 
house, whose duty it should be to dispose of, in trade 
with the Indians, such goods as the president should 
direct him to receive. In 1806 the president was author- 
ized to appoint a superintendent of Indian trade who 
should purchase the goods required and transmit them to 
the place designated as trading houses (commonly called 
factories) and also to appoint an agent for each trading 
house and he was known as the factor. By the Act passed 
in 1822 the factory system was abolished, and the presi- 
dent was required to close up the trading houses and 
was authorized to appoint a Superintendent of Indian 
Affairs to reside at St. Louis, and this superintendent and 
the Indian Agents were given authority to issue licenses 
to trade with the Indians at places designated in the 
license. Another act of that year required the Super- 
intendents of Indian Affairs, who were the governors of 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 33 

the territories, and the Siiperintencleiit at St. Louis, and 
all Indian Agents, to report to the Secretary of AVar, 
each year, "an abstract of all licenses granted, showing 
by and to whom, when and where granted, with the 
amount of the bonds and capital employed, to be laid 
before Congress, at the next session thereof." Prior to 
the enactment of this statute there was no regulation 
requiring any report of the licenses issued. 

The law made it the duty of the Indian Agents "from 
time to time to designate certain convenient and suitable 
places for carrying on trade with the different tribes, 
and to require traders to transact their business at the 
places thus designated, and at no other place or places." 
Those charged with the administration of the law often 
complained that the Indian Agents were compelled to 
issue a license to every applicant, and the consequence 
was that there were many irresponsible and dishonest 
traders, as any man who was able to give the required 
security could obtain a license to trade for one year with 
the Indians at any place so designated that he chose to 
name in his application. He w^as required to give a bond, 
the penalty ranging upwards from one thousand dollars, 
conditioned that he would obey all the laws and rules 
regulating the trade. He was allowed to trade at the 
place chosen by himself and named in the license, and 
was prohibited from trading at any other place under 
that license, but was allowed to go to other places solely 
for the purpose of collecting what was due him when he 
obtained special permission to do so. 

He could have as many licenses as he chose, there being 
instances in which the records show as many as five li- 
censes issued to one man in the same year, and William 
Burnett, who owned a house in Chicago as early as 1798 
and was in the Indian trade many years, writing to 
Governor Harrison of Indiana Territory, September 10. 
1803, says that in regulating the Indian trade Harrison 



34 TRADING LICENSES 

decided that one trader was sufficient for a place produc- 
ing less than fifty packs of furs in a year — each pack 
weighing from ninety to one hundred pounds — and that 
**no man should have more than four licenses," but Har- 
rison disregarded his own regulation and issued twenty 
licenses to John Kinzie in 1802, (Hurlbut, Chicago An- 
tiquities.) 

Experience taught the trader that he needed the serv- 
ices of three to six men at his post, and he was allowed 
to have them if their names were endorsed on the license. 
He was required, before obtaining a license, to lay before 
the Indian agent an invoice showing the quantity and 
value of the goods he had for sale, and the capital he 
had invested in that venture. 

The Indian agent had no authority to issue a license to 
trade at any place or with any tribe beyond his district, 
but this law was not always respected by the agents. 

For convenience of administration the country was 
divided, arbitrarily, into districts. Generally, the gov- 
ernors of a territory had charge of the trade in that ter- 
ritory, but there were exceptions. The governor of Michi- 
gan had jurisdiction over Michigan and part of Wis- 
consin and that part of Illinois north of the Illinois river 
and east of Rock river. General AVilliam Clark, who was 
stationed at St. Louis, had jurisdiction over the part of 
Illinois and Wisconsin west of Rock river. 

The territory within the jurisdiction of the Indian 
Agency at Chicago extended as far north as Grand river 
on the east side of Lake Michigan, as far south of the lake 
as the Kankakee river and on the west side of the lake 
as far north as the '' Milwaukee, including the Indians 
on that river, and to the lower bands of the Pattawata- 
mies on Rock river." The Ottawas, Chippewas and Pot- 
awatomies, always closely related, had a joint interest in 
a claim recognized by the United States as a just and 
valid one to northern Illinois, and ^'a part of the mineral 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 35 

region on the Mississippi, * * * ai^(^ ^ considerable 
band of them, * * * resided in Illinois, and another 
band up the Rock River." {L^Oth Cong.; 2d Sess.; Ho. 
Doc. 117.) 

The sub-agency at Fort Winnebago had control of the 
Indians — Winnebagoes and Menominees — who frequent- 
ed that place and those who resided in that vicinity. The 
agency at Prairie du Chien had control of the upper 
Rock River country, but was not to interfere with trade at 
Fort Winnebago. The sub-agency at Peoria included the 
^'Ottawas, Chippewas and Pattawatimas of the Illinois 
living on Fox River and west of it." The agency at Fort 
Armstrong controlled the Sauks and Foxes. 

In a letter to the Secretary of War, October 17, 1821, 
Lewds Cass, Governor of Michigan Territory and Super- 
intendent of Indian Affairs in that territory, speaking of 
the conditions in Michigan during and the two years fol- 
lowing the War of 1812, says "During a part of that 
time we had no agent at Michilimacknac, Green Bay, 
Prairie du Chien, St. Peters, Rocky River, Chicago, Fort 
Wayne and Upper Sandusky." {Am. State Papers; In- 
dian Affairs, vol. 2, p. 314.) Is it justifiable to infer that 
there was an agent or trader at ''Rocky River" during 
that war or before it began? 

That there was a trading post on Rock River in the 
winter of 1802-1803, is shown by the Personal Narrative 
of Capt. Thomas G. Anderson, who says he spent that 
winter "with the Winnebagoes on Rock River. They were 
the most filthy, most obstinate and the bravest people of 
any Indian tribe I have met with. Here I had a half-breed 
in opposition in the trade. Our houses were about half a 
mile apart, and between us w^as a very high hill, over 
which we had to pass by a little path through the bushes. ' ' 
{Wis. His. Coll. vol. 9, pp. 137, 152.) He does not state 
at what point on the river this post was located, but as 
be says the hill was at least three hundred feet above the 



36 JOHN CRAFTS 

water in the river we know he was not near Grand Detour, 
unless he is in error as to the height of Castle Rock. 

John Kinzie became a resident of Chicago in 1804. In 
Waubioi, Mrs. John H. Kinzie, says that he '* later" es- 
tablished trading posts ''at Rock river with the AVinne- 
bagoos and the Pottawatamies, ' ' but that leaves date and 
place unknown. There is an abundance of evidence that 
John Kinzie had been engaged in the Indian trade in 
Michigan for several years before locating at Chicago, 
but he was then known as McKenzie as well as Kinzie. 

Gurdon S. Hubbard, who entered the service of the 
American Fur Company in 1818, says that company had 
three or four trading posts on Rock River from 1813 to 
1833 (Baldwin, History of La Salle County), but he does 
not name or describe the exact locations. 

Speaking of John Crafts, who was the Chicago repre- 
sentative of Mack & Conant of Detroit, Hubbard said he 
"had, up to 1819, full control of this section, without 
opposition from the American Fur Company, sending 
outfits to Rock river and other points within a range 
say of a hundred miles of Chicago." {Hiirlhut, Chicago 
Antiquities.) 

In his introduction to " Altowan, or Incidents of Life 
and Adventure in the Rocky Mountains/' James Watson 
Webb gives a thrilling account of the night he passed in 
La Sallier's cabin, on Franklin Creek, about thirty-five 
rods from Rock River, in February, 1822, and it shows 
there was a trader there then who lived in a cabin so 
old that in 1835 it was nothing but a mass of rotten logs. 
It is self-evident there was no reason for the existence 
of a house there in that period, unless it was for the com- 
fort and convenience of one engaged in the fur trade. 

Writing from Michilimackinac on August 26, 1824, to 
Alexander Wolcott, Indian Agent at Chicago, Robert 
Stuart, the manager of the American Fur Company, says : 
'*I have just received a letter from Mr. Crafts w^herein 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 37 

he states that you had designated Chicago, St. Joseph, 
Milwalka and Rock River as the places you consider most 
proper to be established for Indian trade within your 
district, and that you will grant him no licenses for any 
other posts." {Am. Fur Co. Letter Book, in Chi. His. 
Soc. Library. Crafts was then that company's repre- 
sentative in Chicago.) 

The Report of the Secretary of War, December, 1823, 
has an abstract of all licenses to trade with the Indians 
that were issued in 1821, 1822, and up to the first of Sep- 
tember, 1823, and it shows that on October 13, 1821, Alex- 
ander Wolcott, Jr., Indian Agent at Chicago, gave a li- 
cense to Maurice Lauzon to trade one year on *'Rock 
river," with nothing to show the particular place on that 
river, and it does not state the amount of capital Lauzon 
employed in that venture. The report does not show 
that any license to trade on Rock river was issued in 
1822 or that part of 1823 covered by the report. {18th 
Cong.; 1st 8 ess.; Ho. Doc. 7.) 

The Report made by the Secretaiy of War in January, 
1825, shows that on October 20, 1823, Wolcott gave a 
license to Stephen Mack, Jr., to trade on "Rock river," 
with a capital of two thousand dollars. {18th Cong.; 2d 
Sess.; Ho. Doc. 54.) While this does not show the par- 
ticular place Mack was authorized to trade, it would seem 
but fair to say he was at Grand Detour, because he was 
there other years and his family bible says he bought the 
cabin in which La Sallier had lived in 1822. 

In his testimony before the commissioners appointed, 
under the treaty of November, 1837, to adjust the claims 
against the Winnebagoes, John H. Kinzie said that the 
fur trade along Rock River, in 1823-4, was g"ood, there 
being many muskrats there at that time and the price 
being good. 

Wolcott, on Septeml)er 6, 1824, issued a license to 
Stephen Mack, Jr., to trade one year on Rock river, with 



38 TRADERS AT GRAND DETOUR 

a capital of one tlionsand dollars; and on October 23, 
1824, lie issued a license to Cole Weeks to trade one year 
on ''Rocky river," with a capital of fifteen hundred dol- 
lars. {19th Concj.; 1st Sess.; Ho. Doc. 118.) 

Lewis Cass, Governor of Michigan and Superintendent 
of Indian Affairs, on August 17, 1825, issued a license to 
Bernard Laughton to trade one year at "Grand Detour, 
on Rocky River," with a capital of five hundred dollars; 
and Wolcott, September 27, 1825, issued a license to 
Laughton to trade one year on "Rocky River," with a 
capital of twenty-five hundred dollars. (19tJi Cong.; 2d 
Sess.; Ho. Doc. 86.) 

By this time it had become quite generally known that 
Grand Detour was a very good place for the fur trader, 
and the Report made by the Secretaiy of War in Febru- 
ary, 1828, shows that on September 1, 1826, Governor 
Cass issued a license to Morice Lozon to trade one year 
at "Grand Detour, on Rocky River" with a capital of 
five hundred dollars ; that on October 13, 1826, Henry B. 
Brevoort, Indian Agent at Green Bay, issued a license 
to Bernard Grignon to trade one year at "Grand Detour 
on Rock river" with a capital of seven hundred fifty dol- 
lars and sixty-three cents ; and on the next day he issued 
a license to Perish Grignon and S. Chapua to trade one 
year at "Grand Detour on Rock river and Cheboiegon of 
Lake Michigan," with a capital of twelve hundred thirty 
dollars and thirty-one cents; that on October 5, 1826, 
Wolcott issued to Stephen Mack a license to trade one 
year on "Rocky River," with a cai3ital of twenty-five 
hundred dollars ; and on the next day he issued a license 
to Archibald Clybourn to trade one year on "Rocky 
River," with a capital of twenty-five hundred dollars; 
and on October 17, 1826, he issued a license to George 
Hunt to trade one year on ' ' Rocky River, ' ' with a capital 
of thirty-five hundred dollars ; that on November 2, 1826, 
Brevoort issued a license to H. B. McGulpin to trade 
one year at "Fon du Lac and Grand Detour," with a cap- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 39 

ital of seven hundred ninety-two dollars and fourteen 
cents. {20th Cong.; 1st Sess.; Ho. Doc. 140.) 

The Secretary of War reported, in February, 1829, an 
abstract of the licenses to trade with the Indians that had 
been issued since September 1, 1827, but it does not show 
that any license to trade at Grand Detour or on Rock 
river above Prophetstown had been issued since that 
day. Nor is any mention of the issue of a license to trade 
there made in his subsequent reports, so it is fair to con- 
clude none were issued since November, 1826, although 
he did report, February, 1829, that "the following are 
the trading posts now established * * * Chicago * * * 
Fever river * * * Forks of the river Iroquois * * * 
Grand Detour on Rocky river * * * Rock river * * * 
among the Winnebagoes fifty miles from the mouth of 
Rock river." (20^/i Cong.; 'Ind Sess.; Ho. Doc. 117.) 

Mrs. Kinzie tells us, in Wauhun, that after they left 
Dixon, on their journey from Fort Winnebago to Chi- 
cago, in 1831, their guide lost the way and led them along 
a trail that "brought us to the great bend of the river 
with its bold rocky bluff," and it is common knowledge 
that every Indian trail led to an Indian village. 

It is incomprehensible that so many men would, of 
their own volition, choose Grand Detour as the site of 
their trading posts, unless there were Indians there with 
whom they could trade. 

We know, from the great number of arrow heads, 
flints and other things evidencing the prior existence of 
an Indian village, that have been found north of Rock 
River, and a little west of the road leading to the bridge 
at Grand Detour, that there once was an Indian village 
across the river from the bold rocky bluff Mrs. Kenzie 
mentions. 



JOSEPH OGEE AND HIS FERRY. 

It is quite common knowledge in Dixon that its first 
permanent white inhabitant was Joseph Ogee. Very lit- 
tle is known of him, and that is so scattered it may be well 
to gather the fragments and present them so that they 
may be found easily. 

Dr. Oliver Everett, who lived in Dixon for a period of 
more than fifty years, beginning in September, 1836, told 
the writer hereof that the name Ogee was pronounced as 
if spelled Ozhya, though Judge McCulloeh, in his History 
of Peoria County, says the name is said to be Ozier and 
Ogee but a nickname. In Waubiin, Mrs. Kinzie calls him 
"Ogie." That Ogee is the correct spelling will be shown 
later. 

Ogee represented the American Fur Company at Pe- 
oria as early as 1818 (McCulloeh, History of Peoria 
County), and at a later day he also had charge of its trad- 
ing station where Wesley City, Tazewell county, now 
stands. 

Ethelbert Stewart, of the United States Department 
of Labor, in his "Few notes for an Industrial History of 
Illinois," says that the pay rolls of the American Fur 
Company show that the company paid its "trader" in 
Illinois three thousand dollars per year because of the 
fierce competition in that territory. This indicates that 
Ogee was a man of greater ability that the term "half- 
breed" would imply, and that the company considered 
him to be a valuable man. {Publications Illinois State 
Historical Society, no. 8, p. 119.) Stewart's statement is 
fully sustained by the books of the Fur Company. 

He was living in Fulton county when that county and 
its attached territory included all the state that was east 
of the fourth principal meridian and north of the Illinois 
and Kankakee rivers, and tlie county commissioners of 
that county, June 4, 1823, ordered 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 41 

" "that Joseph Ogee have License to keep an Inn or 
Tavern in the house where he now resides at the Vil- 
lage of Peoria in Said County, by paying the Sum of 
Ten Dollars in State papers. 

' ' By motion it was ordered the following be the list 
of Tavern Rates for said Tavern, towit : 

Victuals, pr meal $ .25 

Horsekeeping, pr night 37^ 

Lodgeing pr. night 12^ 

Whiskey pr. half pint 12 i 

Rum & Gin pr. half pint 25 

French Brandy Do 50 

Wine pr. half pint 37^ 

and all other Liquors be in proportion." 

He was summoned to serve on the grand jury at a term 
of the circuit court of Fulton county to be held in Octo- 
ber, 1823, but, for some reason now unknown, that term 
of court was not held. 

Peoria county was created by an act approved Janu- 
ary 13, 1825, and given its present area (except a 
small fragTuent taken from Fulton in exchange, to cure 
a blunder in surveying), and there was attached to it all 
the state north of it and the Illinois and Kankakee rivers 
and some territory east of the Illinois. The first meeting 
of the county commissioners' court of the new county was 
held in March, 1825, in Ogee's house at Peoria which, 
Judge McCulloch says, was made of hewn logs and was 
the best in the town. The first term of the circuit court 
held in the county was held in this house in November, 
1825, with John York Sawyer as judge and John Dixon 
as clerk. It was at this term of court that the Indian 
Nomaque was indicted, tried and convicted upon a charge 
of murder, and sentenced to death. Ogee acted as inter- 
preter at that trial and served as petit juror for that 
term, and he and one Jacob Frank were indicted then for 
an aifray. At that trial Nomaque, it is said, was de- 
fended by William S. Hamilton, the life time friend of 



42 OGEE'S ASSESSMENT 

Mr. Dixon. A new trial was granted by the Supreme 
Court, and ultimately, Nomaqne went without punish- 
ment. 

A methodist church was organized in Peoria in 1824, 
and Mrs. Ogee became a member of it the following win- 
ter. Ogee was a patron of Peoria's first school upon its 
establishment in 1826, its sole support being subscrip- 
tions by its patrons. After its first week, the school was 
taught in his log cabin. 

In July, 1826, Ogee was allowed and paid three dollars 
by the county commissioners' court for the use of his 
house by the circuit court and one dollar for its use by 
the county commissioners' court. That same month, 
when the county sold the land it had caused to be subdi- 
vided, he bought two lots in that subdivision, the town of 
Peoria, for $96.25. 

An assessment of two hundred dollars was made 
against his personal property in 1825, but it was located 
in the "Illinois prairie," which was the local name given 
the attached territory oast of the Illinois. The assessor 
was the same John L. Bogardus who built a shanty at 
Dixon in 1827, and whose partially built ferry boat was 
burned by the Indians that summer. (Kett, History of 
Of/Ie Count ij.) It is quite probable that the property so 
assessed belonged to the Fur Company, as its property 
in Chicago was assessed in the name of its agent there. 

In his History of Oyle County, p. 50, Boss quotes the 
following from a letter written by Judge Joseph Gillespie 
of Edwardsville : 

"It was about the 5th day of March, 1827, that 
thirteen of us who had met together at different 
places and formed a traveling company for the lead 
mines, reached the banks of Eock River at the point 
where, according to my recollection, Dixon now 
stands. It was naked prairie on the south side, but 
there was excellent hickory timber on the opposite 
side of the river. A band of Winnebagoes were en- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 43 

camped on the south side. It became necessary for 
a portion of our party to cross the river and prepare 
our encampment, and make fires in advance of the 
rest, and a Mr, Reed, my brother and myself were 
selected for that purpose. We had previously bar- 
gained with the Indians for the use of their canoes to 
ferry us and our wagon over, and had given a large 
amount of bacon and corn meal in payment. The 
Indians, without any reluctabce, took Reed, my 
brother and myself across the river with our oxen, 
and as soon as we were separated from our compan- 
ions, they started down the river with their canoes. 
This operation was likely to be attended with much 
inconvenience, and some suffering and exposure to 
us who had crossed the river and were without pro- 
visions or bed-clothes. Our friends followed down 
after the Indians, who pretended that they under- 
stood the contract on their part to have been fulfilled. 
We knew that they were endeavoring to fleece us. 
It was found impossible to bring them to agree to our 
understanding of the bargain, and nothing was left 
for our side but to make the best terms we could. 
They would not agree on any condition we could pro- 
pose, to ferry our wagon over, pretending to believe 
it would sink their canoes. There was in our com- 
pany a negro, named Frank, from Kaskasia, who had 
joined us when the company consisted of but four 
persons — old Mr. Reed, his son, my brother and my- 
self; the rest of the company we picked up after- 
wards. We rather took care of Frank, and protected 
him when attempts were made to impose upon him, 
for which he was very grateful. Frank was in great 
distress when he found that three of his friends were 
separated from the company, and were without food 
or bed-clothes. He had a black overcoat, the body of 
which was about of the texture of an old sleazy 
blanket, but the capes were really of first rate ma- 
terial, and were fastened to the body with hooks and 
eyes. One of the Indians took a great liking to 
Frank's coat, and a bargain was struck on about 
these terms : Frank was to give the Indian his coat 
and they were to allow him to bring us over bed- 
clothing and food, and also to ferry the wagon over 



44 WILLIAM THOMAS 

the next morning, upon terms to be agreed on. Frank 
rolled up an auger in the blanket to enable us to 
build a raft in case it should become necessary, but 
the Indians were too sharp for that. They unrolled 
the blanket and contended that taking over an auger 
was not in the bargain, and so Frank came over with- 
out it. AVhen they arrived a great controversy arose 
between him and the Indians. Frank contended that 
he was to give only his coat, and they contended that 
he was to give the cape also. We had by this time 
become so incensed at the Indians that we felt very 
little like obeying the scriptural requirement — 'If 
any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy 
coat, let him have thy cloak also.' So we decided 
in Frank 's favor, and he kept his capes. The Indians 
were very indignant at Frank's strict construction, 
and we might have had trouble with them; but that 
night it turned intenselj^ cold, and by the next morn- 
ing the Indians were as torpid as snakes in winter. 
They could not get out of their wigwams, and our 
men helped themselves to the canoes, and everything 
was pushed across early in the day. * * * Lest 
what I have stated might lead persons to believe 
that all the Indians were thus knavishly inclined, I 
would remark that in crossing the Winnebago 
swamps, some ten or fifteen miles south of Rock 
River, we had great difficulty, and would have had 
more but for some Winnebago Indians avIio were en- 
camped by the swamps, and who were exceedingly 
kind and generous to us, and rendered us every as- 
sistance in their power." 

In his " Recolleciious of Early Illinois," delivered be- 
fore the Chicago Historical Society, March 16, 1880, 
Judge Gillespie, speaking of the trip just mentioned, says . 
they crossed Rock river at Dixon. 

When Governor Edwards issued his call for volunteers 
for the Winnebago War in 1827, one of the first to offer 
his services was William Thomas of Jacksonville, for 
many years thereafter honored and revered by the people 
of Illinois. The command of which he was a member 
marched to Gratiot's Grove. Speaking of this, in an ar- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 45 

tide published first in the Jacksonville Journal of Au- 
gust 21, 1871, and later in the Publications of the Illinois 
State Historical Society, no. 12, p. 265, Thomas says : 

* ' The heavy rains had extended to Rock river, and 
the i3rairies were so saturated with water that we 
could travel only in a walk, our horses onbreaking 
the sod at every step. Following a trail made by the 
Indians and persons going to the lead mines, on the 
fifth day from Peoria we reached Rock river at Dix- 
on's Ferry. During the march we had to drink the 
water standing in swamps, pools and holes in the 
prairie. Uj)on reaching Rock river, seeing that it 
was a beautiful clear stream with gentle current, we 
expected a good drink of water, but, to our sur- 
prise, we found that no better than the water of the 
swamps through wdiicli we had passed. Dozens were 
made sick by swallowing the water before testing it. 
We forded the river in the afternoon on a Sunday, 
those riding small horses swimming, and encamped 
on the bank until next day." 

He does not give any information as to the day or 
month he crossed Rock river. As the call for volunteers 
was issued in the middle of July it is probable that he 
reached the river some time in August. Of course that 
place was not then known as Dixon 's Ferry, as there was 
no ferry of any kind there then. 

In his "Early Times at Dixon's Ferry,'' published in 
Kurtz's History of Dixon and Palmyra, John K. Rob- 
inson says : — 

"The method of crossing the river with teams be- 
fore the establishment of a ferry was primitive and 
simple. On arriving at the place of crossing, the 
wagons were unloaded and the loads carried over 
in canoes by the Indians, the wagon was then driven 
with the side to the stream, two wheels lifted into 
a canoe then shoved a little out into the river, and 
another canoe received the other wheels, when the 
double boat was paddled or poled to the other side; 
the horses were taken by the bridle and made to swim 
by the side of the canoe, cattle swam loose ; then com- 



46 THE BOGARDUS FERRY 

menced the lifting out of the wagons and reloading, 
and the journey was renewed, all hands happy that 
the task of crossing the river was completed. Once 
James P. Dixon, well acciuainted with the hardships 
of crossing, arriving on the banks of the river with 
the mail wagon, called for the Indians for their as- 
sistance but received no answer; vexed at their delay 
and their arrogance when they did assist, he boldly 
nnchecked his horses, so as to give them a chance 
to swim, and crossed the river with the mail and 
wagon in safety. ' ' 

Speaking of the travel at this place, Rett's History of 
Ogle County, p. 266, says: 

"In the winter time there was bnt very little 
travel, probably from the fact that there was but lit- 
tle or nothing doing in the mines, and may be be- 
cause of the exposure necessarily incident to the 
trip. In March, 1827, however, a heavy tide of travel 
set in from Fort Clark, and other parts of the state 
below there. 

"Among the first to come up that season and cross 
Rock River at the Boles trail (now Dixon) was Elisha 
Doty, who subsequently settled at Polo. When he 
arrived at the river it was still covered with ice, over 
which he essayed to cross, but before he had pro- 
ceeded far the ice began to give way, and he was 
obliged to abandon the attempt. * While waiting on 
the bank' (says Boss' Sketches of the History of Ogle 
County, published in 1859), 'just before starting on 
his return, about two hundred teams collected there, 
all on their way to Galena.' * * * 

"In 1827 Dixon had become a fixed place for trav- 
elers to cross the river, but crossing was often at- 
tended w^ith a great deal of inconvenience, as up to 
this time, and until 1828, there was no ferry other 
than the kind of canoe ferry already described, and 
the Indians were not always present and in readiness 
with their canoes. When the water was low, the 
river could be forded without diflficulty, but this was 
not always the case. The establishment of a ferry at 
that point was first undertaken by a man named J. L. 
Begordis (Bogardus), of Peoria, who sent a man up 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 47 

in the early summer of 1827 to build a shanty 8 by 10, 
on the bank, and to live there and 'hold the fort', or 
ferry, until Be,c;-ordis (Boe^ardus) could find and for- 
ward the necessary workmen, carpenters, etc., to build 
the ferry boat. Soon after the shanty was completed, 
Mr. Doty (the father of Elisha Doty already men- 
tioned), a carpenter, came and work on the boat was 
commenced and vigorously prosecuted. When the 
boat was about half coni])leted, tlie Indians set fire to 
it, and informed its builders that they should not 
build a boat there, and told them to 'go to Peoria.' 
Doty and his assistant did not stand upon the order 
of their going, but went at once, for the command was 
imperative, if not threatening. In the spring of 
1828, Joe Ogee, a Frenchman and an Indian inter- 
preter, whose wife was a Pottawattomie woman, 
settled there, built a house and established a ferry." 

''The (Ogee) ferry boat was propelled by the old fash- 
ioned 'setting pole,' " and landed at any convenient 
point. It was not until 1835 that the rope ferry was 
installed. That ferry was at Galena avenue. {Kurtz, 
History of Dixon and Palmyra.) 

John K. Robinson, who taught the children of Father 
Dixon in the winter of 1833- '34, says that Ogee built his 
cabin and established his ferry where Dixon stands in 
the spring of 1828. Boss, in his history of Ogle County, 
published in 1859, and Frank Kurtz, who compiled the 
History of Dixon and Palymra that was pul)lishe(l in 
1880, say the ferry was established in 1828. Rufus 
Blanchard, in his Historical Map of Illinois, published in 
1883, says it was established in 1825, but he is wrong. 

It has been stated many times that John Dixon induced 
Ogee to establish the ferry, or that he took Ogee with him 
when he moved from Peoria, and some have said that Mr, 
Dixon really established the ferry and put Ogee in charge 
of it. All these statements are erroneous. 

In the History of Dixon and Lee County compiled by 
Frank Kurtz, and published in 1880, it is said that "Jo- 



48 JOHN DIXON AT BOYD'S GROVE 

sepli Ogee was induced to come here (Dixon) and estab- 
lish a ferry by Father Dixon, who at the time was Gov- 
ernment mail contractor between Galena and Peoria." 
Kurtz reprints the article on Mr. Dixon that appeared in 
the Dixon Telegraph, July, 1876, which says — "while Mr. 
Dixon was at Peoria, the Government established a mail 
route from Peoria to Galena, crossing Rock River at the 
present site of our city * * * mail to be carried once 
in two weeks on horse back. Mr. Dixon threw in a bid 
for the contract which was accepted. * * * he in- 
duced * * * Ogee * * * to establish a ferry at 
the point of crossing the river." 

The History of Lee County published by H. H. Hill & 
Co., in 1881, says "Mr. Dixon had induced Ogee to build 
the ferry to accommodate the United States mail which 
he was carrying from Peoria to Galena." 

In Bardiuell's History of Lee County it is said that in 
1828 "John Dixon had, at this time, a contract for carry- 
ing the mail between Galena and Peoria, and induced 
Ogee to establish the ferry here (Dixon) on the mail 
route." 

In his ''Black Hawk War/' Stevens says "in 1828, 
when Father Dixon received the contract for carrying 
the mails from Peoria to Galena and Gratiot's Grove he 
took with him a half breed named Joseph Ogee, who es- 
tablished a permanent, though unlicensed ferry." 

Mr. Dixon did not move to Rock river from Peoria. 
On the contrary, he moved from Peoria to what is known 
as Boyd's Grove, in the present town of Milo, Bureau 
Countj^ in the spring of 1828. 

John K. Robinson says, "Father Dixon's object for 
changing his home from Boyd's Grove, where he had a 
short time before taken up his abode, was to occupy a 
more central position for his mail contract." 

In his Reminiscefices of Bureau County, published in 
1872, Nehemiah Matson says that when the Ament broth- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 49 

ers passed Boyd's Grove in the spring of 1828, in their 
search for a desirable location, they found John Dixon 
building a cabin in which he and his family lived until 
1830, when he sold it to his brother-in-law Charles S. 
Boyd. 

In his History of Bureau County, 1885, Bradsby says, 
*'In the year 1828 there were five families in Bureau 
County, coming here in the order named : Bulbona, John 
Dixon, Henry Thomas, Reason B. Hall and John and 
Justus Ament," and that, except Bulbona (the name 
really was Bourbonnais), a French Canadian Indian 
trader, Dixon's settlement ''was the first real settlement 
in what is now Bureau County. Dixon lived at the grove 
until 1830, when he sold his improvement to Charles S. 
Boyd and removed to Dixon." 

A reading of Bradsby 's book convinces one that he re- 
lied, for his information on this point, upon statements 
made by Alexander S. Boyd, a son of Charles S. Boyd, 
and that makes it the best evidence now obtainable on 
the subject, and it proves that Mr. Dixon did not move 
to Rock river from Peoria. 

Kett's History of Jo Daviess Comity contains a letter 
written December 7, 1827, by Dr. Horatio Newhall, who 
settled in Galena that year, saying, *'We have no mail as 
yet, but shall have a mail once in two weeks to commence 
the 1st of January next." 

Postmaster General John McLean, in April, 1828, 
transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives a statement of the contracts made the preceding 
year for carrying the mails in Illinois, and this shows 
that the contract for carrying the mail from "Peoria to 
Galena" for a term beginning January 1, 1828, and end- 
ing December 31, 1829, was let to E. B. Clemson, the con- 
sideration being $580 each year. This statement shows 
that Clemson also liad the contracts, for the same period, 
for carrying the mails between Kaskaskia and Vandalia ; 



50 GALENA AND ST. LOUIS STAGE LINE 

Carlisle and Shawneetown; Salem and Cole's Grove; 
Springfield and Peoria; Springfield and Lewistown; 
Jacksonville and Rushville. {Wth Cong. 1st Sess.; Ho. 
Doc. 258.) 

In 1828 only three contracts were made for carrying 
the mail in Illinois, — Moore's Prairie to New Harmony; 
Paris to Vandalia, and Danville to Fort Clark, the last 
being let to E, B. Clemson. Each contract Avas for a term 
of one year, beginning January first, 1829. {Letter of 
Post Master General John McLean; 20th Cong.; 2d Sess.; 
Ho. Doc. 135.) 

In the Miners' Journal (Galena), beginning December 
6, 1828, and running to April 11, 1829, appears this ad- 
vertisement : 

''The U. S. Mail Stage from Galena to St. Louis 
will hereafter leave Galena every Monday and St. 
Louis every Friday. Fare, $8 from Galena to Peoria ; 
$3 from Peoria to Springfield; $4 from Springfield 
to St. Louis. 

John Dixon, Proprietor of the line from Galena 
to Springfield. " 

The Miners' Journal of February 7, 1829, says that 
the mail contractor, wiiose name is not given in that ar- 
ticle, has informed the postmaster that he had seen it 
stated in some newspaper that a weekly route was estab- 
lished, and, presuming that he would shortly receive no- 
tice to that effect from the Postmaster General, made 
preparations accordingly, ''and has been carrying a 
weekly mail, regularly, since the 15th of October. In 
December last he was informed by the Post Master here 
that the department could not pay for carrying a weekly 
mail 'under present circumstances, as the cost' would be 
$1,160," and the contractor replied that he would continue 
the weekly service, hoping he would be allowed adequate 
compensation for his services. 

Another article in the same issue of the Journal speaks 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 51 

of ''Mr. Dixon, the Mail Contractor, for carrying the 
same between this ph\ce and Peoria." 

The Journal of March 21, 1829, says that "Mr. Dixon, 
the proprietor of the Mail Stage," which has run between 
Galena and Peoria advises the postmaster that ''owing 
to the badness of the roads" the stage will not rmi again 
until further notice, but the mail will be carried weekly 
"by two riders, at an additional expense to that which 
is already exorbitant." 

There is still in existence a statement signed January 
23, 1830, by E. B. Clemson, of the account between him- 
self and John Dixon which shows that Dixon carried the 
mail from Peoria to Galena during the quarter year end- 
ing September 30, 1829, and for that service Clemson paid 
him $225. 

In the Miners' Jourual of August 15, 1829, Post Mas- 
ter General William Barry calls for bids, to be opened 
October 10th, for carrying the mail from Peoria, by way 
of Gratiot's Grove, to Galena weekly, leaving Peoria 
Thursday at 6 a. m., arriving at Galena Saturday by 8 
p. m. ; leaving Galena Monday 6 a. m., arriving at Peoria 
Wednesday by 7 p. m. ; service to begin the first of Jan- 
uary and the contract to run for four years. 

In a letter addressed to the House of Representatives, 
March, 1830, Post Master General Barry transmits a list 
of the contracts let the preceeding year for carrying mail 
in Illinois, saying that the letting of the contracts was 
advertised in June, 1829; the contracts were "decided 
upon" October 16, 1829, and the term of the contracts 
began January 1, 1830, and will end December 31, 1833. 
It shows the contract for carrying the mail between 
Peoria and Galena, once a week, was let to John D. 
Winters, the compensation being $800 per year. The 
name of John Dixon does not appear in this document. 
Charles Boyd had the contract to carry the mail between 
Vandalia and Peoria, once a week, at $550 per year. The 



32 TRAVEL AT THE FERRY 

contract to carry the mail between Sprin^^field and Pe- 
oria, once a week, was let to William Dillard and R. L. 
Cobb, who had been paid $200, the contract price not 
being shown, {'list Cong.; 1st Sess.; Ho. of Rep.; Doc. 
77.) 

Inasmuch as the records of the Post Office department 
for that period were destroyed by fire in 1836, the au- 
thorities just cited appear to be the best evidence that can 
be obtained now. 

The known facts do not .iustify the statement that Ogee 
was taken to Rock river by Mr. Dixon. It is far more 
probable that he went there upon his own initiative, be- 
cause he saw a chance to make money by so doing and 
the increasing flow of immigration and settlement fore- 
told the end of the fur business. Moreover, the records 
show that when Mr. Dixon reached the place, it was to 
become Ogee's tenant, not to establish or own a ferry. 

In 1870 the Telegraph and Herald Company published 
a "History of Dixon and Lee County," (without giving 
the name of the author), and it is the first history of 
either Dixon or the county that was written or published. 
From it we quote : — 

''Forty-four years ago the first log cabin was 
erected on the site of Dixon. It was the first, and 
at that time the only habitation after the manner of 
white men for many miles, in .any direction, and, in 
fact, this was not a white man's house. A half-breed 
Indian had come to this ]ioint to establish a ferry, 
and w^as attracted by the tide of emigration that had 
set in, in the spring of the above year, from the south- 
ern part of the state, to Galena, where rich lead 
mines had been discovered. Tliis man's name w^as 
O'Gee, and he showed great forethought and a 'long 
head' in opening his ferry at this point, as it was 
just here that the greatest amount of travel appeared 
to undertake the crossing of Rock river, and as soon 
as it was known that there was a ferry and station 
here the business that O'Gee did was enonnous." 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 53 

(The reader, doubtless, will note the errors as to date 
and name.) 

Ogee was a man of influence with the Indians, especially 
so with the Potawatomies, who occupied the country 
south of the river there. He was possessed of some prop- 
erty and had the ability to manage it. It is incredible 
that he would have been entrusted so long in charge of 
the affairs and property of the American Fur Company, 
some seven years or more, unless he was capable of man- 
aging it. He started the ferry and operated it so suc- 
cessfully that a half interest was sold by him for seven 
hundred dollars in November, 1829, and Father Dixon 
had no interest in the business then. 

Ogee was at Green Bay, Wisconsin, August 25, 1828, 
acting as interpreter for the Potawatomies in the making 
of the treaty the United States made that day with the 
Potawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa Indians. 

John L. Bogardus published notice in the Miners' Jour- 
nal, dated October 18, 1828, that he would apply to the 
county commissioners' court for a "license to establish a 
ferry across Rock river on each side thereof, at the upper 
crossing, where the United States' mail now passes from 
Peoria to Galena." In the Journal of November 1, Alex- 
ander McNair and G. H. McNair gave notice, dated Oc- 
tober 25, that they would apply for a ''license for the 
upper ferry on both sides of Rock river." The court did 
not act upon either of these applications. 

It is to be remembered that when Ogee started his 
ferry the territory north and west of Rock river at this 
place was Winnebago country, and that south and east of 
the river w^as the country of the Chippewa, Ottawa and 
Potawatomi Indians of the Illinois. The country south 
of the river was ceded to the United States by the treaty 
of July 29, 1829, and that north of the river by the 
treaty of August 1, 1829. The treaty of Green Bay, 
already mentioned, reads: "It is also agreed by the 



54 OGEE SEEKS A LICENSE 

Indians that a ferry may be established over the Rock 
River where the Fort Clark road crosses the same." This 
may explain what apparently was Ogee's belief, — that he 
did not need any other license. 

His good friend, John Turney, Galena's first lawyer, 
who was a member of the house of representatives in 
the Sixth General Assembly, 1828- '9, for the Jo Daviess 
district, introduced in the house the petition of Joseph 
Ogee praying that he be given the ''privilege of building 
houses and establishing a Ferry on Rock River at the 
common crossing place upon the road leading from Fort 
Clark to the Fever River lead mines," and the committee 
to which it was sent reported a bill for "An Act authoriz- 
ing Joseph Ogee to establish a ferry on Rock River." It 
passed the house December 12, 1828, but the senate killed 
it by adjourning in January after postponing considera- 
tion of the bill until the fourth of July following. At 
this same session of the legislature, the senate amended 
the house bill for "An Act authorizing James R. Vine- 
yard to establish a ferry on Rock River," but the house 
refused to concur in those amendments, and that bill 
failed. (The Galena Advertiser of February 22, 1830, 
gives the name of J. R. Vineyard as a member of Galena's 
volunteer fire department assigiied to the third ward. 
Kett, History of Jo Daviess County, 457. He afterwards 
moved to Wisconsin, becoming a member, for Iowa 
County, of the first, second and third councils in the terri- 
torial legislature, and being expelled from the last for the 
murder of a fellow member of the council in February, 
1842. Wis. His. Coll. v. 11, p. 408.) 

In the Journal of January 10, 1829, and other issues 
following, is the following: — 

"Notice. I shall appl}^ to the county commission- 
ers' court of Jo Daviess county at their March term 
to obtain a license for a ferry on Rock river at tlie 
upper crossing embracing a landing on both sides. 
Joseph Ogee, Resident, Jan. 3." 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 55 

The court did not pass upon this application. 

The Galena Advertiser of July 27, 1829, says a band of 
about one hundred and fifty Winnebagoes, from the 
Spotted Anns village, on their way to Rock Island, the 
place appointed for the making of a treaty, reached 
Ogee 's Ferry and there learned the treaty would be made 
at Prairie du Chien. This so enraged them that they 
declared they would not participate in or respect any 
treatj^ made at the latter place. They did go, however, 
and join in the treaty. 

If the treaty made at Prairie du Chien July 29, 
1829, with tlie "Chippew^a, Ottawa and Potawatomi In- 
dians of the Illinois", and the treaty made there August 
1, 1829, with the Winnebago Indians are correctly printed 
in the official edition of the United States Statutes, the 
execution of the former was witnessed by "Sogee", and 
that of the latter by " Joge", but it is fairly probable from 
his signatures that still exist that these are errors of 
transcription, and that the witness was Joseph Ogee. 

The report of the auditor of the War Department, 
sent to the House February 23, 1830, by the Secretary of 
War, shows that among the disbursements made .by 
Peter Menard, Jr., Indian sub-agent at Peoria, were 
items aggregating $433.33 paid to Joseph Ogee for his 
services as ''interpreter of the Potowatamies" from 
September 1, 1828, to September 30, 1829, and $15 paid to 
John Dixon November 30, 1828, for "provisions fur- 
nished the Indians." {21st Cong.; 1st Sess.; Ho. Doc. 
87.) 

A '^Map of the United States Lead Mines on the upper 
Mississippi River", drawn and published byR. W. Chand- 
ler of Galena, in 1829, shows "Ogee's Ferry and Tavern". 

It appears that he had some knowledge of the law con- 
cerning stray animals, as he advertised in the Miners' 
Journal for four successive weeks during July and Au- 
gust, 1829, that he had an estray horse taken from the 



56 OGEE'S FERRY P. O. 

Indians near the Henderson river, on the road from Ga- 
lena to Beard's Ferry, and was holding it for the owner 
at his ferry on Rock river ''on the Fort Clark road." 

Caleb Atwater's "Remarks made on a tour to Prairie 
du Chien" was first published in 1831, and it is the first 
book to mention Ogee 's ferry. It says : 

"When I crossed Rock river at Ogee's ferry, Sep- 
tember 1, 1829, there was a lodge of Indians there, 
consisting of an old man, his son-in-law, daughter 
and several children. They waited on me, as soon 
as I stopped for the night, at the house of Ogee, who 
had married a half-breed and owned the ferry." 

On another page he says: 

"Rock River, where I crossed it, on the first day of 
September, 1829, at Ogee's ferry, ninety miles by 
water from its mouth, was twenty rods wide, four feet 
deep, and run at the rate of five or six miles an 
hour." 

In the Galena Advertiser of September 7, 1829, this 
item appeared: — 

"A new Post Office is established at Ogee's Ferry 
on Rock River, in this county, of which John M. Gay, 
Esq., is appointed Postmaster. Ogee's Ferry is on 
the mail route, and is the principal crossing place 
for travellers by land from the Mines to the lower 
country. This office has been established chiefly for 
the accommodation of the settlement at the Rapids of 
the Illinois River, from which it is distant about thir- 
ty-five miles. Heretofore the people of that settle- 
ment were dependent upon the post office at Peoria, 
distant between seventy and eighty miles." 

"An Old Timer/' who was J. K. C. Forrest, writing in 
the Chicago Record, July 26, 1894, says Gay was "an em- 
ploye of Ogee." He moved to Princeton, Illinois, and 
served as postmaster there. 

The Galena Advertiser of September 14, 1829, says 
the first wagon that ever passed from the Mississippi to 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 57 

Chicago went in August, 1829, from Galena by way of 
** Ogees Ferry on Rock River", tlience to the Missionary 
establishment on Fox River and thence to Chicago. 
(Kett, History of Jo Daviess County, 456; Burgess, Set- 
tlement of Illinois, 152.) 

In the Galena Advertiser of October 19, 1829, and the 
four succeeding issues, Joseph Ogee gives notice, dated 
October 19, that he will applj^ to the county commission- 
ers' court, at the next term, to be held the first Monday in 
December, for a license to keep a ferry across Rock river 
'*at the place where the road now crosses said river from 
Galena to Peoria." 

The record of the county commissioners' court of Jo 
Daviess County of December 7, 1829, reads, 

"On the application of Joseph Ogee it is ordered 
that a license be granted him to keep a tavern at his 
house on Rock River by his paying into the County 
Treasury the sum of twelve dollars and the fees of 
the clerk and entering into bond in the penal sum 
of three hundred dollars with J. M. Strode and Regis 
Laurent 'Sect'. 

"On application of Joseph Ogee it is ordered that 
a License be granted him to keep a ferry on Rock 
River where he at present resides by giving bond 
with James M. Strode and Regis Laurent his security 
conditioned as the law directs and paying into the 
Treasury of the County the sum of ten dollars and 
the fees of the clerk." 

Those familiar with the events of the Black Hawk War 
know considerable of James M. Strode, and we will only 
add that he appears on the account books of Mr. Dixon as 
a frequent borrower of cash. 

On the same day there was entered by the court an 

order fixing the rates at this ferry as follows : 

Crossing footman $ .12i 

Man and horse 25 

Horses or cattle per head, other than cattle 

yoked 25 

Each yoke of cattle 37^ 



58 TAVERN RATES 

Eoad wagon 1.00 

For each horse hitched to said wagon 25 

Each two-horse wagon 75 

Each two-wheeled carriage or cart 1.00 

One-horse wagon 75 

Each hundred weight of Merchandise, etc. .06 

There was in force at that time a general order fixing 
all tavern rates in the connty as follows : 

Each meal 37| 

Horse feed 25 

Horse per night at corn and hay 62^ 

Man per night 12| 

Each half pint of French brandy or wine . . .25 
Each half pint or whiskey or other domes- 
tic liquors 12| 

Each half pint of Holland gin 25 

Each quart of porter, cider or ale 25 

By an agreement dated at ''Ogee's Ferry Joe Davies 
County," November 21, 1829, filed for record Febru- 
ary 18, 1830, Og-ee sold to George ''Skillinger" a 
half interest in the establishment, including the ferry 
and the farm, for seven hundred dollars, the wagon 
and five horses already furnished by ''Skillinger," which 
were declared to be firm property, being taken at five hun- 
dred dollars. From a mortgage dated January 29, 
1830, it appears that the firm had been dissolved. 
Ogee keeping all the property and agreeing to pay 
*'Schellinger" one thousand and sixty dollars for his in- 
terest, thus showing a very substantial increase in the 
value of a half interest, and indicating that the ferry was 
doing a very good business. February 10, 1830, ' ' Schel- 
linger" assigned this mortgage to Lawrent Rolette 
by an instrument that was not acknowledged, but its 
execution was witnessed by John M. Gay and "Paskal 
Pinsonault," the latter signing by making his mark. 
(Possibly this John M. Gay is the Gay who was the first 
postmaster at Ogee 's Ferry. ' ' Paskal Penseno ' ' appears 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 59 

on tlie account books of Mr. Dixon as a debtor May 21, 
1830.) 

The Galena Advertiser of January 4, 1830, says that, 
pursuant to the order of the county commissioners' court, 
a road had just been laid out and marked from St. Vrains 
furnace on Apple river, near Woodbine, "to Ogee's Ferry 
on Rock river," lessening the distance about thirty miles 
and making the road from Galena to Ogee's Ferry about 
fifty-five miles. "The mail stage came this way the last 
trip." 

On October 28, 1830 Laurent Rolette assigned to 
Joseph Rolette of Prairie du Chien whatever inter- 
est he had "in and to certain ferry privileges origin- 
ally granted by the General Assembly of the State of 
Illinois to Joseph Ogee to keep up and maintain a ferry 
across Rock River at the place where the public road 
from Fort Clark to Galena Crosses," reciting that his 
interest was acquired through a mortgage to "Schillin- 
ger." (The spelling of these names is in strict accord 
with the record. The a"Ccount books of Mr. Dixon show 
charges against "Skelinger.") 

Joseph Rolette settled in Prairie du Chien as early as 
1804, remaining there until his death in 1842. For many 
years he represented the American P^ur Company "on the 
upper Mississippi river." He acted as justice of the 
peace and was one of Wisconsin's quaint characters. 
(Hurlbut, Chicago Antiquities; Durrie, Annals of Prairie 
du Chien.) Laurent (improperly spelled Lawrent) Ro- 
lette was wuth the American Fur Company as early as 
1824, being then, and for several years thereafter sta- 
tioned at Drummond's Island in Lake Huron. [Ameri- 
can Fur Co. letter book.) He and Skellinger were living 
in or near Galena at the time of these transactions with 
Ogee. 

Jefferson Davis, then a Lieutenant in the First In- 
fantry, was at Dixon in 1831. In "Jefferson Davis, A 



60 FIRST ROCK RIVER BRIDGE 

Memoir," Mrs. Davis states that he said he was going 
through Illinois that year Avith his scouts, and, upon 
reaching Rock River, "found the mail coach, and num- 
bers of wagons with persons going to the lead mines 
detained at the river. There was no bridge. The water 
was frozen, yet not sufficiently so for them to pass over. 
No house except that of the ferryman, whose name was 
Dixon. His log cabin was near. The whole party put 
themselves at his command. He told them to keep a 
good fire in the cabin, and set the men to hewing blocks 
of ice. They worked faithfully and ere long the struc- 
ture began to assume shape. As each was set in posi- 
tion, water was poured over, which froze it in its place. 
Sometimes a workman would fall overboard, and he was 
ordered to run into the cabin and turn round and round 
before the blazing log fire until dry. Soon the bridge 
was pronounced safe, and the whole party of men, 
v>'omen, cliildren and vehicles passed safely over. The 
ferryman, Dixon, remembered the young army officer 
ever afterward, and some years ago when Mr. Davis 
was invited to Dlinois, a letter came from the old man, 
expressing his happy anticipation of meeting him once 
more on earth. ' Mr. Davis could not then accept the in- 
vitation, and not long since Mr. Dixon died." 

On the first of March, 1832, there was filed for record 
in Jo Daviess County an instrument reading as follows : 

''Know all men by these presents that I, Joseph 
Ogee of the county of Jo Daviess & State of Illinois 
have this day sold and by these presents do bargain 
and sell to John Dixon of the County and State 
aforesaid all my right title interest and claim of, 
in and to the improvement ferry and apper- 
tainances at or near the place usually kno^^^l as 
Ogees Ferry on Rock River in the Countj'^ 
and State aforesaid with all the priviledges an- 
nuities and property belonging to or pertaining 
to me at or near said place to have and to hold 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 



61 



the same without molestation forever except the 
mortgage given to George SkelcMiger on part of said 
property, which I ilo not bind myself to prevent the 
opperation of and to release the said Dixon from all 
rents and undertakings by virtue of his renting the 
said premises by an article of agreement entered into 
in March 1830. In consideration of the foregoing 
the said Dixon has given me his two several notes one 
for the sum of one liundred and fifty dollars and 
one for the sum of four hmidred dollars payable in 
four months after this date. 

In testimony whereof I 
have hereunto set my hand 
and seal this twenty-seventh 
day of 




John M. Smith. 



witness 



State of Illinois, 
County of Jo Daviess. 

Be it known that on this thirtieth day of January 
A. D. 1832 before me William Smith a justice of the 
peace in and for said county came Jolm M. Smith 
proved by the oath of John R. Coons a credible wit- 
ness to be the person whose name appears subscribed 
to the above deed as a witness to the execution there- 
of, and made oath that J. Ogee the person whose 
name appears subscribed to said deed is the real 
person who executed the same, and that he the said 
John M. Smith subscribed his name thereto as wit- 
ness in presence of said J. Ogee and at his request. 



62 DIXON'S FERRY 

Given iindor my hand & soal at the county aforesaid 
the day & year ahove written. 

William Smith, J. P. (Seal.)" 

Mr. Dixon's account books do not show the state of his 
account with O^ee at tlie (hite of this instrument, and 
it is impossible to tell exactly what Mr. Dixon paid for 
the ferry. He assumed the payment of a morts^age 
indebtedness of one thousand sixty dollars and gave 
his own notes for five hundred fifty dollars, so the pur- 
chase price may have been sixteen hundred ten dol- 
lars. There is nothing remaining now from whieli we 
can know how mucli rent Mr. Dixon paid for the ferry. 

There are many charges for merchandise and several 
for payments of cash against Ogee, and several credits in 
Mr. Dixon's account books, one of the latter being an item 
of two hundred dollars, January 24, 1831, for "Rent." 
There is, also, another credit in Ogee's favor of one 
hundred dollars foi- *'rent," but it is not dated. 

He is charged with the county ferry tax of fifteen dol- 
lars for the year 1831, but the date of the payment is not 
shown. 

The first printed mention of Dixon's Ferry that has 
been found is a statement in the Galeniam of May 16, 

1832, that "An ex])ress has just arrived from Dixon's 
Ferry across Kock Kiver. " 

This incident may serve to give some idea of the busi- 
ness done at the ferry. Frank H. Funk, member of the 
State Public ITtilities Commission of Illinois, is a grand- 
son of Isaac Funk, who settled at what is now Funk's 
Grove, McLean county, in 1823, and who acipiired a large 
fortune by raising and selling cattle and hogs. Isaac 
Funk had a brotlier named Absalom. Frank H. Funk 
says that there is in his family a tradition tliat Absalom 
Funk, linding that there was no market for hogs in Chi- 
cago, once drove three thousand liogs from Funk's Grove 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 63 

to Gulciin, as tlicre wvvo about five thousand people in 
and around Galena and he thought that wouhl be a good 
market. In examining" the old account l)ooks kept by 
Mr. Dixon we find these items that sustain this tradi- 
tion :— 

1830. Mr. Funk, Dr. 

Apl. 30 to dinner for two .50 

ferriage of cattle, Dear- 
bourn horse & 2 men 1.25 

1830. Absalom Funk, Dr. 

Deer. 20. To 10 meals • 1.87 

to 4 horses 1 night 1.50 

Lodging for 5 O.G2i 



3.99i 



By the treaty of Fort Armstrong, September 15, 
1832, with the Winnebagoes, provision was made, at their 
request, for the payment of two hundred two dollars and 
fifty cents to Ogee in satisfaction of his claims against 
them. Tli(!re is a provision in the treaty of Chicago, Sep- 
tember 2G, 1833, with the Chippewa, Ottawa and Pota- 
w'atomi Indians for the payment of two hundred dollars 
to '* Joseph Ogie," 

James Simons published notice in the Galcnlan of Oc- 
tober 24, 1832, that he held, at his place on the East Foi-k 
of Fever river, a horse "recently given up to Joseph 
O'Gee, by the Winnebago Indians," from which it seems 
Ogee had not left the country at that time, thougli the 
notice does not tell where he was. 

The old account books show charges against him for 
''mockasins," caps and shoes furnished his sons John 
and Louis (sometimes spelled Lewis), and a charge May 
15, 1830, for cash 'Ho Margaret to go to Fort." The 
last item indicates that Ogee had a daughter, but no 
other trace of her has been found. There are three charges 
against him for postage on letters, one being for ten 
cents July 26, 1831, one for twelve and one-half cents 



64 THE OGEE SECTION 

August 5, 1831, and one for ten cents that is not dated, 
though it evidently is later than the others. 

The last entry on the account books that- mentions 
Ogee is a charge of one dollar for "tin beeswax and 
nails to mend canoe," June third, 1832. 

The Potawatomies, says Judge Caton, in The Last of 
the Illinois, were removed to a reservation in Clay County, 
Missouri, in 1837. About two years later they were re- 
moved to a place near Council BlutTs, Iowa, where they 
remained a short time, then being placed on a reserva- 
tion in Kansas, where they lived about thirty years. 
Then they were taken to the Indian Territory, now Okla- 
homa. 

One of the Potawatomi chiefs signing the treaty of 
November 15, 1861, made in Kansas, was L. H. Ogee. 
Perhaps he was a son of Joseph Ogee. 

By the terms of the Prairie du Chien treaty of July 
29, 1829, there was granted to ''Madeline Ogee, a 
Potawatomie woman, wife of Joseph Ogee, one section 
west of and adjoining the tract herein granted to Pierre 
Leclerc," which was at the village of As-sim-in-eh-kon, or 
Paw Paw Grove. It is not difficult for one to believe that 
Ogee had a part' in securing this grant for his wife. 

The next mention of him that we have found is by Mrs. 
Kinzie in Waiihun. Speaking of her visit at John Dixon's, 
March 13, 1831, on her memorable journey to Chi- 
cago, she says she saw there a boy dressed in the full 
Indian costume, and was told, in response to her inquiries, 
that he was John Ogee, a son of the old ferryman, and 
that his mother, "unable to endure the continued ill-treat- 
ment of her husband, a surly, intemperate Canadian, 
(she) had left him, and returned to his (sic) family 
among the Pottowattamies. Years after, this boy and a 
brother who had also been left behind with their father, 
found their way to the Upper Missouri, to join their 
mother, who, with the others of her tribe, had been re- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 65 

moved by tlie Govornmeiit from the shores of Lake 
Michigan. ' ' 

Dr. Everett told the writer that he never knew wliat 
caused the separation of the Ogees. Mrs. Ogee married 
Job P. Alcott on or before November 14, 1842. It is 
quite probable that Ogee was then dead for while the 
Potawatomi and other Indiaji tribes had a custom where- 
by the man could divorce his wife (Haines, American 
Indians, p. 288; Meese Early Rock Island, p. 15, and 
Gurdon S. Hubbard so divorced his Indian wife Watseka ; 
Fergus Historical Series, no. 31, p. 50), the wife could not 
obtain such a divorce. 

Boss says that Ogee and "his wife were not without 
their share of domestic difficulties. As they had no neigh- 
bors near enough to quarrel with, they managed to stir up 
a quarrel between themselves, Avhich resulted in the sep- 
aration of the family, and Joe was left to run his boat 
and .broil his broth alone. * * * Ogee had been run- 
ning the ferry nearly two years; his wife had forsaken 
him, and withal he was much disposed to change his 
course of life," when Mr. Dixon came and took charge 
of the ferry in April, 1830. 

Whatever the cause of the separation may have been, 
it is to be noted that the wife left both husband and chil- 
dren behind when she went away. 

It is said that Ogee died in Dixon and was buried 
there, first at the corner of Peoria avenue and First street 
and then in the cemetery, but we have not been able to 
verify this. There is no record of his burial in the ceme- 
tery, but no record of burials there was kept prior to 
1880, so that fact does not aid us. 

Kurtz says that a man named Lafferty died in the fall 
of 1836, ''and this was the first interment in the ceme- 
tery." If he is right, and Ogee was buried at the corner 
of First street and Peoria avenue, it is reasonably certain 
that Ogee died before 1836. 



66 DAD JOE 

No evidence of the date or place of his birth has been 
found. 

November 14, 1842, when the Potawatomies were living 
on a reservation in Iowa, Mrs. Madeline Alcott, "of the 
territory of Iowa, upper Missouri, within the Council 
Bluffs sub-agency," and her husband Job, executed the 
first of the deeds by which she parted with her land in this 
county. In Captain Enoch Duncan 's Company of Mount- 
ed Riflemen enlisted for the Black Hawk War, there was 
a sergeant Job Alcott of Galena, who was enrolled May 
19 and discharged September 14, 1832. A man of that 
name settled in the town of Wyoming in 1836. (Hill, 
History of Lee County, p. 648.) 

Dr. Everett believed that Mrs. Ogee was the daughter 
of La Sallier, the Frenchman who lived in the cabin near 
Grand Detour in 1822, whose wife was an Indian woman. 
Keating had La Sallier for a guide from Fort Dearborn 
to the Pecatonica in 1823, and in his Narrative of An Ex- 
pedition to the Sources of St. Peter's River, published in 
1824, says La Sallier ''had taken a wife among the Win- 
nebagoes." 

That Mrs. Ogee was a Potaw^atomi is sliowm by the 
fact that she is so called in the treaty of Prairie du Chien, 
and it is reasonable to believe that the man who wrote the 
treaty obtained his information as to her nativity from 
the Potawatomi interpreter — her husband. John K. 
Robinson says she was a Potawatomi, and so do Judge 
McCulloch and Rett's History of Ogle County. 

Dad Joe's Grove, in the northern part of Bureau 
County, took its name from the first settler there. In 
speaking of him, Brads.by's History of Bureau County 
says: "He got his name of Dad Joe from the trader 
Ogee, wdio spoke very broken English, who found no other 
way of designating Joe Smith, Sr., from his son Joe." 

At a reception given by the Calumet Club to the old 
settlers. May 19, 1881, John Wentworth said that the first 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 67 

piano in Chicago was brought by Gen. Jean Baptiste 
Beaubien, and that ''it is now doing service in the family 
of his granddaughter, Mrs. Sophia (Beaubien) Ogee, at 
Silver Lake, Kansas, daughter of the late Charles Beau- 
bien." 

In an article in the Journal of the Illinois State His- 
torical Society, vol. 5, p. 246, upon the trial of the Indian, 
Nomaque, who was the first man indicted for murder in 
Peoria county. Bill Moon says that the complaint upon 
which Nomaque was arrested was made by Ogee and 
signed by his mark. 

A careful and thorough search of the files in the case re- 
sulted in a failure to find any such complaint, and the 
clerk of the court says there never was any complaint 
made, and that there is nothing in the files signed by 
Ogee in any manner. It has already been shown that 
Ogee wrote his name in signing the instrument convey- 
ing the ferry to Mr. Dixon. He signed the mortgage to 
Rolette and his agreement with Skellinger in the same 
manner, and an expert would have to say the three sigTia- 
tures were written by the same man. This shows very 
clearly that Moon is wrong, and he is so sharply criticized, 
in the succeeding number of the Journal, for one error 
in his article that reliance cannot be had in his state- 
ments. 

John L. Bogardus, a justice of the peace of Peoria 
County, under the date of May 19, 1826, certified that he 
had on that day married Francis Bourbonne, Jr., to 
Josette Alscum. The certificate bears the names of sev- 
eral witnesses. Among them are Joseph Ogee, who wrote 
his name, and Madeline Ogee, who signed by making her 
mark. 

Charles Jouett was twice appointed Indian Agent at 
Chicago, his second term of office beginning in 1815 and 
ending in 1818 or 1819. His daughter, Mrs. Susan M. 
Callis, says her mother's nurse was a half breed French 



68 JOSEPH OZIER 

and Indian woman named "Madeline Alscum or Olscum," 
who married "Joseph Ozier, a soldier from the garrison" 
the "day we left Chicago for the last time." (Andreas, 
History of Chicago.) That would place the wedding in 
1818 or 1819. It is hardly probable that this was the Ogee 
of our story, as he was, as shown, stationed on the Illi- 
nois River in 1818. Mrs. Callis' statement tends to sup- 
port the theory of Judge McCulloch that the real name 
was Ozier and Ogee merely a nickname, but that theory 
is overcome by the fact that Mr. Dixon's account books 
uniformly give the name as Ogee, and he wrote it that 
way. 

The American Fur Company had an interpreter named 
Antoine Oscum on the Illinois river in 1818, and agent 
named Antoine Alscum at its trading post in the Illinois 
prairie in 1826. 



THE OLD ACCOUNT BOOKS. 

John Dixon kept books of account for majiy years after 
taking charge of the ferry, but only two of them survive. 
Fortunately, these are the first and second and they cover 
the period from April, 1830, to October, 1835. The en- 
tries were made by different persons who were not expert 
accountants, and, the ink being poor and the penmanship 
poorer, many of them are now illegible. Very few credits 
are shown, and there are fewer balances. The account 
with Ogee is scattered over many different pages, seem- 
ingly without any attempt at order, and it is impossible 
for one to tell just how that account stood. But with all 
their many faults the books are very interesting and they 
throw some light upon the life of those days. 

They give prices of many of the commodities the pio- 
neers needed and give us an insight into the cost of living 
in those days. 

Corn sold at from twenty-five cents to one dollar per 
bushel. Oats brought fifty cents per bushel. Corn meal 
cost one dollar per bushel. Live hogs sold at three to 
four cents a pound, and pork cost four to nine cents a 
pound, and there was a sale of a barrel of pork at $11.75. 
Bacon was eight to ten cents a pound. Beef cost three to 
four cents. Salt cost two dollars a bushel, and there is 
a charge of forty cents for thirteen pounds. 

The nearest grist mill was at Dayton, and flour cost 
three to five cents a pound, and six to nine and a half 
dollars per barrel. Butter was worth twelve to eighteen 
cents ; sugar ranged from four and a half to fifteen cents ; 
tea from seventy-five cents to two dollars. Potatoes sold 
at fifty cents a bushel. Coffee was twenty to twenty-five 
cents. Candles were thirty-one and a quarter cents per 
dozen. 

A man paid a dolhir and a half to two dollars for his 
shoes; four dollars for his "thick boots"; from two dol- 

(69) 



70 WAGES 

lars: to two dollars and a half for ''boots," one dollar 
seventy-five for his wife's shoes, and a dollar for those 
his boy wore. His smoking tobacco cost him twenty-five 
to fifty cents per pound, — there is no record of the sale 
of any cigars or cigarettes; his chew^ing tobacco was 
twenty-five cents a "large plug," and his whiskey fifty 
cents a gallon. His flannel shirt cost one dollar and a 
half; his pantaloons three and a half; his socks thirty- 
seven and one-half cents; his hat one dollar and a shil- 
ling. He paid two dollars a week for his board and lodg- 
ing. One man paid $3.75 for four shirts, and another had 
three made for $2.25. 0. W. Kellogg was charged with 
one dollar for two shirts furnished to Jarro, and with 
another dollar for' two shirts furnished to Pashepayou. 
The last charge shows that Pashepayou, the Sac chief 
who refused to aid Black Hawk in his war, traded at 
Dixon. The nearest Sac town was Saukenuk, on Rock 
river, commonly called Black Hawk's town. 

The housewife had her bargain days — bed ticking 
thirty-one and a quarter cents a yard ; muslin at fifteen 
cents; calico at twenty-five to forty cents; cotton hand- 
kerchief thirty-seven and one-half cents ; red flannel eight 
yards for five dollars; striped shirting twenty cents. 
Blankets sold for from two to five dollars. Thread, both 
linen and cotton, was seventy-five cents per half pound. 

Edward Penseno is the first to be named as working 
for Mr. Dixon and he earned $42 working three and one 
half months from April 25, 1830. Paskal Penseno worked 
from April 29, 1830, to May 21 and is credited with $9. 
George Elinger worked from May 1, 1830, to July 4, but 
lost one day while sick and two while working for others 
at forty cents per day, and his earnings were $25.20. 
George Butterfield was credited with $27.60 for work 
from Aug-ust 22, 1832, to October 31, and with $76.80 for 
eight months and twelve days' work beginning Novem- 
ber 1. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 71 

Eebeckah Merrill worked two and one half weeks at 
$2.00 and another period of five weeks at $1.50. 

Others working for Mr. Dixon were James V. Wagner, 
John Doyle, P. Grover, Nancy Walker, George Powers, 
Patrick McCormack, Thomas Spicer, Charles Lane, Isaac 

Morgan, William , Brownfield, Murphy, 

Brink, Siner, Joseph , Mc Clnre, 

Grant. McClnre must have been considered an exception- 
ally good worker, as he earned $1.12^ a day for part of 
the time. The usual pay was from twelve to sixteen dol- 
lars per month. 

There always has been a belief in the family that a col- 
ored man worked some time for Mr. Dixon, and this 
seems to be sustained by entries dated May 10, 1830, 
giving credit to Eneous for work. 

That the fur trade had not disappeared entirely is 
clearly shown by these books. Some of the items in the 
books are not dated, and others do not state the prices. 
There was but little fluctuation in the prices. Coon skins 
brought from fifteen to thirty-five cents. Muskrats sold 
from twenty to twenty-three cents; mink at thirty-three 
to thirty-five ; wolf from twenty-five to thirty-three ; wild 
cat at twenty-five ; deer and fawn at twenty-five cents, and 
otter at five dollars. The deer had become very scarce, 
there being, in five years, sales of only nineteen fawn and 
deer. There were sold 284 coon; 50 wolf; 101 mink; 15 
otter ; 9 wild cat ; 10,888 muskrats. 

H. B. Stillman and P. Menard, Jr., were the best cus- 
tomers, sometimes in the firm name — Menard and Still- 
man — and again in their individual names. Their prin- 
cipal place of Inisiness was in Pekin. 

P. A. Lorimere, or Lorimier, was a good customer. As 
some of his purchases were sent to J. P. B. Gratiot for 
him, it would seem that his business was conducted in 
Galena. Henry Gratiot and H. B. Soulard, both of Galena 



72 COL. Z. TAYLOR 

were good patrons. Thomas Hartzell of Bureau County 
and J. Demnn were the only other buyers. 

The first sale shown on the books was to H. B. Stillman 
on June 28, 1830, and the last was to P. A. Lorimere, 
June 16, 1835. 

There are charges against S. Sacket for the Sangamo 
Journal from September 3, 1834, to June 1, 1835, and they 
were paid. Other charges for newspapers were made 
against ''Mr. Andrus" for the Monroe Democrat and 
the Knickerhocler; "Mr. Fellows" for the Christian Ad- 
vocate and Journal; "Mrs. Fellows" for the Sangamo 
Journal, G. A. Martin for the Galena Gazette, and one, 
probably in 1834, against Isaac Morgan — "May 30, Cash 
sent for Saturday Evening Post $2.00." 

There are many charges for the unpaid postage on let- 
ters, ranging from ten to thirty seven and one half cents. 

Many of the items indicate that Mr. Dixon was quite 
willing to accommodate his friends by making small loa«s 
of cash. John D. Winters, the stage coach man, was a 
frequent borrower. William S. Hamilton, "Dad Jo" 
Smith, Henry Gratiot, John K. Robinson, Dr. Forrest, 
Zachariah Malugin and Asa. Crook were some of the 
debtors, James M. Strode borrowed several times, once 
"on his Avay to Galena from court." Colonel Zachary 
Taylor obtained two loans of fifty cents each, two of sev- 
enty-five cents each, one of two dollars and fifty cents. 
Adding these to a charge of one dollar fifty cents for a 
pair of shoes for his man, made his indebtedness six dol- 
lars and fifty cents, and the book says this was "settled 
Iw note." Perhaps the note was paid in due time; the 
book does not tell. 

There are charges against the United States for flour, 
bacon and pork supplied to the Indians, for flour and 
bacon furnished the men of the Sixth Regiment; for ra- 
tions "to Colbert the express man;" for bacon and flour 
furnished the men of the First Regiment who were sent 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 73 

to Prairie du Chien; for bacon and flour supplied the 
men of the Sixth Reg iment who were sent to the Jefferson 
Barracks. "Col. Johnson for U. S." is charged $360.50 
for blankets, guns and a rifle. *'U. S. Gen. Atkinson's Q. 
M. " is charged for double and single trees, breast chains, 
augers, the use of oxen, iron, steel and blacksmith's tools 
and "accommodation and sustainance of the sick of the 
Army," but the amount is not stated. 

It is not possible for one to decipher all the names ap- 
pearing in the accounts with the Indians. The books do 
not give any idea of the value of the goods sold. The first 
of the Indian items charges " Hancock Honesty" with 
beads, a shirt and some paint. Later with "wacoodshun," 
"nobra skelehera," "wawatchera." In the account 
against Scar on His Brow there is this notation — Jarro 
went with me to his camp. The items charged are a bridle, 
tw^o strouds, five traps, one ax, powder, handkerchief, 
spear and flour. The Long Yellow Man is noted as 
"good pay." 

There are charges against Old Blue Coat's son, one of 
them for "wy Parisable." An "Old grey head Potawa- 
mie" is charged with "ferretin," while his "fat Son" is 
charged with "1 wapamoon." Plump Face bought "wa 
sarah" and "my sherry." Just preceding the charges 
against "Sack, old man" is this entry "Ogee says he is 
good." "Fat Squaw, with many beads" owes a balance 
"due on shirt." Plump Face bought a blanket for Thin 
Face, and it was charged to the latter. There is an item 
of "w^acodghun" against American Woman and one 
against the "Man that has a sick squaw," for a shirt. 
"Crane's Son" bought a blanket, handkerchief, knife and 
"nobra skelehera." There are charges against "Tall Pot- 
awatamie, Mrs. O's ant's husband," Great Dancer, AVa- 
wacockera, Wakongonie; "Daddy Walker, Hanuzeka," 
Limp3^, Old Quaker, Sour Eads, Corngather, "Sin au 
buck, old white head Potawatamie's son," Moneah, No 



74 INDIAN DEBTORS 

Nose, Good Singer, "Dr.'s Husband," "Preacher long- 
Sober man" "Blinkey's brother," " Jarro's oldest son." 
Plump Face is charged with "massagran," "wa sarah," 
"mv sherrv" and "ohanena." Chief Jarro bought some 
"ohenena," and some "pageuna." Howekah, the "One 
eye old man that came with Crane & Orenduff," bought 
"torah," "Pashchunk, Chief Crane" bought "wawatch- 
era." Squirrel Cheeks bought "oats netega." The 
"woman that came with Mother Flat Face" bought "fer- 
ritin." There was a sale of "wacoodshun" to the 
Preacher. Chief Crane's brother, "Blue Coat" had an 
item of "edah skelehera." Many of the. charges against 
Blinkey are crossed out. 

In the account against the United States are charges 
for supplies furnished to Hau can shereck, Asherrekerry, 
Hanaracerashak, Dash, Houneh hutie. Chaw shep hutie, 
White Crow, "Dash's oldest son Hoonk Cheekah," Coca- 
sarretch, Blinkey, Laugher, Comeah, Nah he kah. Little 
Beaver, Hanupe Kah, Wauconjackpanke, Hoketchoke, 
Mass cheeka, On cah ce nech. Whirling Thunder, Pau he 
saw, Hanusee and many others. These items appear to 
have been furnished between September, 1832, and March 
23, 1833, and were for flour, pork, bacon and corn. No 
prices are given and in many instances the quantity is 
not stated. 

By the treaty made at Washington November 1, 1837, 
the Winnebagoes ceded all their land east of the Mis- 
sissippi and agreed to remove therefrom within eight 
months after the ratification of the treaty. The treaty 
provided for the payment of various sums, aggregating 
$38,000, to certain persons named, out of the sum of 
$200,000, and that the balance "shall be applied to the 
debts of the nation, which may be ascertained to be justly 
due, and which may be admitted by the Indians, pro- 
vided, that if all their debts shall amount to more than 
this balance, their creditors shall be paid pro rata, upon 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 75 

their giving receipts in full," and that no claim for dep- 
redations should be allowed. Provision was also made 
for the payment, under the direction of the President, 
to the relations and friends of the Winnebagoes ''having 
not less than one-quarter of Winebago blood" of the sum 
of $100,000. James Murray of Maryland and Simon 
Cameron of Pennsylvania were appointed commissioners 
to adjust these claims, and they proceeded to Prairie du 
Chien, where they met the Indians and the various claim- 
ants in 1838. The report of the Secretary of War shows 
that John Dixon presented a claim for $2,298.25 for mer- 
chandise sold to the Indians, and, it being one of the five 
that were allowed in full, the commissioners paid him 
his proportion, $1,876.28, the payment being made to his 
attornev in fact, James P. Dixon. 

Writing to Gen. Clark in October, 1831, of the Indian 
trade on the Mississippi and lower Rock river, Thomas 
Forsyth said that the prices charged by the traders in 
that region about that time were higher in the fall than 
in the spring and ranged as follows : a three point blan- 
ket was sold for $10, a "rifle gun" for $30, a pound of 
powder for $4, — a total of $44. He said that these arti- 
cles cost the trader — the blanket $3.52, the rifle $12 to 
$13, the powder twenty cents, — "I know this to be cor- 
rect." 

The trader accepted for his dollar a large buckskin, or 
one doe skin, or four muskrats, or four or five raccoons. 
An otter skin was worth $3 and beaver $2 a pound. 

A treaty made at Green Bay August 25, 1828, with the 
Chippewa, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes were signed 
by Kau-ree-kau-saw-kaw or White Crow. The treaty of 
August 1, 1829, made at Prairie du Chien with the Winne- 
bagoes, was signed by Wau-kun-tshaw-way-kee-wen-kaw 
or Whirling Thunder, Pey-tshun-kaw, or the Crane, and 
Jarot for the Indians. 

The treaty made at Fort Armstrong in September, 



76 



JARRO 



1832, was signed by Kau-ree-kaw-see-kaw or White Crow; 
Waii-kaun-wee-kaw or Wliirliiig Thunder, and Wee- 
tshun-kaw or Goose, for the Eock river deputation of 
Winnebagoes, and by Wau-kaun-tshah-ween-kaw or 
Whirling Thunder for the Winnebagoes of Fort Winne- 
bago. It is more than probable that the third signature 
should read — Pey-tshun — kaw, or the Crane. 

John Blackhawk, an intelligent and well educated Win- 
nebago, furnishes the following translations of these 
Indian words : 



wy parisable — black cloth; 

wacoodshun — leggins ; 

massagran — lead ; 

my sherry — flint stone; 

torah — potatoes ; 

edali skelehera — bridle ; 

Hanuzeka — Yellow Boy; 

Moneali — Arrow ; 

Asherrekerry — Fox ; 

Paschunka — Crane ; 

Hoonk Cheekah — 

New Chief; 
Wauconjackpanke — Good 

Thunder ; 
Mass Clieeka — New Iron ; 
Pau he saw — Sharp or who 
is sharp; 



wacodghun — moccasins; 

nobra skelehera — finger 
rings ; 

wa sarah — grease; 

pageuna — ' ' for making 
fire ' ' ; 

wawatchera — blue liroad 
cloth ; 

Wakongonie — Snake ; 

Hau can shereck — Name of 
the third boy in the fam- 
ily; 

Hounch hutie — Big Bear ; 

Hanupe Kah — Day ; 

Hoketchoke — Green or Blue 
Chief ; 

On call ce nech — Tall Man; 



Although he was a Winnebago chief, Jarro had a 
French name which he acquired in a rather peculiar man- 
ner. Nicholas Jarrot, a native of France, lived in Caho- 
kia from 1794 to 1823, and traded with the Indians on an 
extensive scale. On one of his visits to an Indian camp 
near Prairie du Cliien, about 1812, the Indians were so 
enraged against him that they determined to kill him. 
They raised "the warwhoop and brandished their spears 
and tomahawks in the air. It was approaching an alarm- 
ing crisis. Jarrot and men seemed to be doomed to des- 
truction. The furious savages would not permit a par- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 77 

ley; but at last, when the warriers were so near Jarrot 
that it might .be fatal with him, one of his old friends, a 
Winnebago Indian, stepped before the crowd of warriors 
and raised a terrific war-whoop, such as the Indians use 
in a battle where they are sure to be destroyed. It is a 
kind of a death-cry, so-called by them. The Indian was 
armed with all the weapons used by the infuriated sav- 
ages in mortal conflict. The warriors saw the danger 
they were in. One or more of them must be slain by the 
friend of Jarrot, if they persisted in the attempt to 
murder him and party. The bravery of the Winnebago 
made them reflect, and they desisted from the cowardl}^ 
act to assassinate the trader. Jarrot and men were saved 
by the noble daring of this wild savage. The Indians 
changed his former name to that of Jarrot, and he was 
always known by that name afterward. I saw this In- 
dian, who was called Jarrot, at Galena, in 1829." (Reyn- 
olds, Pioneer History of Illinois; Fergus Ed., p. 211.) 



fT«i 



'. <?. first ©lent lor j.r Peor3?» c,o\irXy 
wno held r,t PeorlR in 18-^5 . Jcn«* T>h 
Cgee fvr.<l .Tohn Lixo^ vot^'i. 

John ja,«ckhi?t»'k rnvjpee -r© thc^t 
Co roe ah umy h<ire beet) inter do 4 -Tor 
Co-:f,o-iLa,the fl rflt mnla c"hll<i in the 
fn.:.ily;?/e-he-knh 1 R the fourth xv^\f. 
chiia;Cbow-sheT>-hnt1e Is Bi^ Kngle ; 
KnchuQR in a ^/inneV)*»pc '^•ord -jieriTi-. 
Ing ftrriv or white irjirerj^rrrl J^oclc 
river, in ;v.i.nn«*tago , in i:-nef>~re-8hR- 



THE KINZIES AT DIXON. 

Early in 1831 the Kinzies decided to visit Cliicago. The 
distance from Fort Winnebago (Portage) was not con- 
sidered too great, if a direct route were taken. The 
winter, however, had been a severe one and the snow 
was deep. While making their preparations for the 
journey they learned that the route by Kosh-ko-nong 
was out of the question, as the Indians were absent 
from their villages, and, the ice being gone, there was 
no means of crossing Rock river except at "Dixon, or, 
as it was then called, Ogie's Ferry." Finishing their 
preparations, they started on the morning of the eighth 
of March, the party consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Kinzie, 
Plante, their ''guide, on the assurance that he knew every 
mile of the way from the Portage to Ogie's Ferry, and 
from Ogie's Ferry to Chicago," and Pierre Roy. They 
spent a night at Hamilton's; the next at Kellogg 's, and 
on the thirteenth "just at sunset we reached the dark, 
rapid waters of the Rock River. The 'ferry' which we 
had traveled so far out of our way to take advantage of, 
proved to be merely a small boat or skiff, the larger one 
having been swept into the stream, and carried down in 
the breaking up of the ice the week previous." 

They crossed on the ferry and were soon in Mr. Dixon's 
house. Mrs. Kinzie then saw young John "Ogie," and 
heard of the separation of his parents. 

After doing ample justice to "a most savory supper 
of ducks and venison, with their accompaniements," Mr. 
Dixon gave the travelers an account of the way still be- 
fore them. 

"There is no difficulty," said he, "if you keep a little 
to the north, and strike the great Sauk trail. If you get 
too far to the south, you will come upon the Winnebago 
Swamp, and once in that, there is no telling when you 
will ever get out again. As for the distance, it is noth- 

(78) 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 79 

ing at all to speak of. Two young men came out here from 
Chicago, on foot, last fall. They got here in the evening 
of the second day; and even with a lady in your party, 
you could go on horseback in less time than that. The 
only thing is to be sure and get on the great track that 
the Sauks have made, in going every year from the Mis- 
sissippi to Canada, to receive their presents from the 
British Indian Agent." 

"The following morning, which was a bright and lovely 
one for that season of the year, we took leave of Mr. and 
Mrs. Dixon, in high spirits. We traveled for the first few 
miles along the beautiful, undulating banks of the Rock 
Eiver, always in an easterly direction, keeping the beaten 
path, or rather road, which led to Fort Clark or Peoria. 
The Sauk trail, we had been told, would cross this road, 
at the distance of about six miles. 

After traveling, as w^e judged, fully that distance, we 
came upon a trail, bearing northeast, and a consultation 
was held as to the probability of its being the one we 
were in search of. 

Mr. Kinzie was of opinion that it tended too much to 
the north, and was, moreover, too faint and obscure for 
a trail so much used, and by so large a body of Indians 
in their annual journeys. 

Plante was positive as to its being the very spot where 
he and 'Piche' in their journey to Fort Winnebago, the 
year before, struck into the great road. 'On that very 
rising ground at the point of the woods, he remembered 
perfectly stopping to shoot ducks, which they ate for their 
supper. ' 

Mr. Kellogg was noncommittal, but sided alternately 
with each speaker. 

As Plante was the 'guide,' and withal so confident of 
being riglit, it was decided to follow him, not without 
some demurring, however, on the part of the bour- 
geois, who every now and then called a halt, to discuss 
the state of affairs. 



80 AT GRAND DETOUR 

'Now Plante,' he would say, 'I am sure you are leading 
us too far north. Why, man, if we keep on in this direc- 
tion, following the course of the river, we shall bring up 
at Kosh-ko-nong, instead of Chicago.' 

'Ah! mon bourgeois,' would the light-hearted Canadian 
reply, 'would I tell you this is the road if I were not quite 
certain? Only one year ago I traveled it, and can I for- 
get so soon ? Oh ! no — I remember every foot of it. ' 

But Monsieur Plante was convinced of his mistake 
when the trail brought us to the great bend of the river 
with its bold rocky bluffs." 

Mr. Kinzie then took command and they proceeded in 
a direction "as nearly east as possible." Other misfor- 
tunes befell them before they reached Chicago, but we 
are not concerned in them now. 

It is impossible for one acquainted with that territory 
to understand why the Kinzie party traveled from 
Dixon's as they did, unless it be that they misunderstood 
what Mr. Dixon told them, and Kellogg was so confused 
that he was lost at the start. 

Mr. Dixon knew, and Kellogg must have known, that 
the road to Chicago did not run along the river. Dixon 
and Kellogg well knew that the crossing of the Sauk 
trail was south of Dixon's. Kinzie certainly must have 
misunderstood what Dixon said about the Indian trails, 
for Dixon knew that the "Great Sauk" trail from the 
Mississippi to Canada did not touch Chicago, and it was 
far south of another trail that did go from the Mississippi 
to Chicago. It is more than probable that Dixon told 
them to go south until they reached the first trail and 
then to follow that to Chicago. He could not have told 
them that that trail, or the Great Sauk trail was about 
six miles from Dixon's, for he knew it was farther. 

It is very clear that Mr. Dixon did not see the party 
start out, for he would not have permitted them to travel 
' ' the first few miles along the beautiful, undulating banks 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 81 

of the Rock River," as that course would have taken 
them back to Fort Winnebago. They did not keep ''the 
beaten path, or rather road, which led to Fort Clark or 
Peoria," for that did not follow the river bank. 



THE OLD CENTRAL RAILROAD AT DIXON. 

The ''Act to establish and maintain a general system 
of internal improvement," approved February 27, 1837, 
appropriated three and one-half million dollars for the 
purpose of building a railroad from Cairo to Galena, by 
way of Savanna. 

The act created a Board of Fund Commissioners and 
authorized it borrow money on the faith and credit of 
the state and pay out this money on warrants drawn by 
the commissioners of public works. It created also, a 
Board of Commissioners of Public Works of seven mem- 
bers, to be elected by the legislature biennially, one from 
each of the judicial districts into which the State was 
then divided. The first board was composed of William 
Kinney, whom the Board elected its president, Murray 
McConnell, Elijah Willard, Milton K. Alexander, Joel 
Wright, James W. Stephenson and Ebenezer Peck. Judge 
Moses, in his History of Illinois, p. 400, says that John 
Dixon was a member of the first board, but the legisla- 
tive records show that he is wrong. Stephenson, who 
lived at Galena, was the member for the sixth district. He 
resigned in the summer of 1838 because of ill health that 
soon resulted in his death. Soon after his resignation 
there was presented to the Governor a petition reading 
as follows : 

To His Excellency, Joseph Duncan 

Governor of the State of Illinois, Sir 

The undersigned citizens of the sixth judicial Cir- 
cuit in the State of Illinois, have recently understood 
that a vacancy has occurred in the office of Commis- 
sioner of Public Works for this Circuit, by the resig- 
nation of Col. James W. Stephenson. 

They would therefore respectfully recommend 
John Dixon of Ogle County to your favorable consid- 
eration, under a thorough conviction that his charac- 
ter qualification and standing in society would ren- 

(82) 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 



83 



der his appointment more acceptable to the people 
of this Circuit than that of any other individual. 



S. M. BoAvman 

Isaac S. Boardman, Jr. 

James Davy 

A. W. Hughes 

S. G. Holbrook 

Wm. G. Elder 

John Young 

G. B. Dills 

Stephen Fuller 

Jos. Crawford 

A. D. Moon 

Horace Thompson 

Wm. Thompson 

Carleton Bayley 

C. H. Chapman 

G. L. Chapman by C. H. C. 

C. Woodruff 
Elias Dement 
J. G. Dement 
G. Wetzlar 
Hiram F. Parks 
Lewis Davis 
Wm. Reed 
Denison Spooner 
Orin Bennett 
Robert Averil 
J. W. Hamilton 

D. C. Stevens 
Hugh Mc Bride 
Saml, J. Charters 
John W. Stoklager 
Asa Crooks 

A. Charters 

Wilson 

Austin L. Bull 
Isaac T. Thomas 

Robert 

Kemp 

James Benjamin 
Horace S. Benjamin 



Wm. Martin 
David Hill 
Harvey Morgan 
B. H. Harris 

B. H. Stewart 
Wm. Fellows 
Natt. G. H. Morrill 

C. W. & M. P. Bartlett 
Jacob M. Morrill 
Harvey Woodle 

Orin Skeel 

Peter 

L. S. Hutf 

D. Bates McKenney 
Daniel W. McKenney 
Lewis Lovel 
Coridon Deland 
James Hambleton 

E. E. Gardner 
John Cutshaw 
James Douglas 
M. Fah^ 

John G. Bellaragee 
A. T. Wilson 
David BroA\Ti 

Henry 

M. Fellows 
Geo. W. Chase 
A. Robinson 
John Saunders 
James Kellers 
J. N. Calmes 
S. Matthews 
H. P. Darrow 
E. W. Hine 
G. D. Latham 
N. W. Brown 
Wm. Jones 
J. K. Cutshaw 
John Cutshaw 



84 



A. LINCOLN 



Harrison Barnes 
Elijah Bowman 
Thomas McCabe 
Nemehiah Hutton 
Daniel Roony 
C. S. Lunt 

Chas. Fred Hubbard 
H. Gates Hewlett 
John Caldwell 
Wm. A. Fraser 
E. Southwick, Jr. 
W. P. Burroughs 
M. T. Crowell 
James Power 
W. T. Chapman 
John M. Thompson 
Henry A. Coe 
Augustus Hawley 
John AVilson 
Theodore Jaques 
A. L. Porter 
John Brandon 
Noah Beede 



Alex Evans 
G. A. Martin 
R. B. Loveland 
Otis Loveland 
Roswell Streeter 
Jarod Martin 
Simon T. Martin 
Isaac Morgan 
Thos. I. Harris 
Nathan Morehouse 
Oliver A. Hubbard 
Simon Fellows 
P. M. Alexander 
M. M. De Long 
John Low 

E. C. Cothral 
James McKenney 
Richard McKenney 

F. C. McKenney 
AVm. McKenney 
Seth Preston 
John Maynard 
R. L. McKenney 



(Two other names appear but they are totally illegible.) 

At the same time there Avas presented to the Governor 
the following : — , 

Spring-tield, July 25. 
To His Excellency Jo Duncan 

Having been informed that a vacancy has occured 
in the board of Com. of Public Works by the resig- 
nation of J. W. Stephenson we take much pleasure in 
recommending to your favorable consideration for 
the vacancy thus created our friend- fellow citizen 
John Dixon of Ogle County whom we consider in 
every way qualified to discharge the duties of said 
office. 



Jesse B. Thomas, Jr. 

Joel Weight Comr. Pub. Works. 

G. Elkin 

C. R. Matheny 

N. W. Edwards 

A. Lincoln 



Simon Francis 
J. R. Speed 
Tho. C. Brown 
A. G. Herndon 
Wm. Butler 
A. G. Henry 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 85 

Upon receiving these petitions, the Governor sent this 

letter to Mr. Dixon at "Dixonville or Dixon's Ferry, Ogle 

County": — 

Jacksonville Aug. 2nd. 1838. 
Dear Sir 

You are hereby appointed Commissioner of the 
Board of Public Works for the Sixth Judicial Cir- 
cuit, in the place of Col. J. W. Stephenson, resigned. 

I will direct the Sec. of State to forward your 
commission, with despatch. 

Your appointment should have been attended to 
sooner, but my little son has been dangerously ill, and 
has absorbed all my attention. 

Your Friend & 
Obt. Servant, 

Joseph Duncan 
Gov. of the State of Illinois 
To 

John Dixon, Esq. 
Ogle County 
Illinois 

His commission is dated at Vandalia, August 8, 1838, 
and he began the performance of his duties on the four- 
teenth of that month, after the contract for the construc- 
tion of part of the railroad between Galena and Savanna 
had been let by his predecessor. 

The sixth judicial circuit then included the present 
counties of Jo Daviess, Stephenson, Winnebago, Ogle, 
Carroll, Whiteside, Rock Island and Lee. La Salle was in 
the seventh circuit of which Ebenezer Peck of Chicago 
was the member of the board. 

February 19, 1839, the two houses of the legislature 
met in joint session and elected Mr. Dixon Commis- 
sioner of Public Works for the sixth circuit, he receiv- 
ing sixty-six votes, William C. Enos thirty, John Turney 
seventeen. Hunt ten, and four votes were scattered. 
Among those voting for Mr. Dixon were Orville H. 
Browning, afterwards United States Senator and Sec- 



86 SURVEYS FROM LA SALLE NORTH 

retary of the Interior, John S. Hacker, later Colonel 
of one of Illinois' most famous regiments in the civil 
war, John Hamlin, his old Peoria friend, Edward D. 
Baker, who was killed in battle in the civil war while 
United States Senator as well as Colonel, Jesse K. Du- 
bois, afterwards Auditor of Public Accounts of the State, 
John J. Hardin, who was killed in battle in the Mexican 
war, and Abraham Lincoln. At this election Jesse B. 
Thomas was chosen to succeed McConnell, John Hogan to 
succeed Kinney, and Hart Fellows to succeed Wright. 
Peck, Willard and Alexander were re-elected. 

Following this election, Mr. Dixon took the oath of 
office at Vandalia February 28, 1839, before Theophilus 
W. Smith, one of the judges of the Supreme Court. His 
commission, dated February 22, 1839, is signed by 
Thomas Carlin, Governor. 

Under date of Omaha, Nebraska, June 15, 1881, 
Frederick A. Nash wrote John Wentworth that he ar- 
rived at Chicago February 11, 1837, under promise of 
a situation with James Seymour, who had been selected 
by Edmund D. Taylor and William B. Ogden to survey 
and locate the Galena and Chicago Union Eailway; ''we 
were paid off, and June 1st, left for Peru, then a prom- 
ising city on paper and prairie bluffs, to enter upon the 
surveys north and south of the Illinois river, under the 
old Illinois Internal Improvement scheme. * * * James 
Sejmiour was chief; his brother, William H. Seymour, 
was assistant; P. H. Ogilvie, draughtsman, a lively little 
Scot, and a graduate of Edinboro; Geo. Howel, rodman, 
and myself, axeman and chainman. * * * From Peru, 
or La Salle, our surveys extended up the Vermillion to 
Dixon and Galena, — from the south side of the river in 
the direction of Bloomington, running 60 miles without 
a tree or any stream to check our progress. * * * in 
1840, Ogilvie, myself and others listened to a four hour 
speech from Stephen A. Douglas, at Dixon's Ferry, and 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 87 

to a shorter and spicy address from ' ' Lon^ John ' ' Went- 
worth, then in the bloom of manhood. In 1840 I was 
junior assistant engineer, and had charge of construction 
from La Salle to the Bureau river, near Inlet Grove, Lee 
County, and a small prairie town called Greenfield, in Bu- 
reau county." (Greenfield is now La Moille.) 

Nash, evidently writing from recollection, is slightly 
in error. The division he joined was organized May 8, 
1837. (See report of Seymour in Northwestern Gazette 
S Galena Advertiser, February 24, 1838.) 

Ogilvie later surveyed and made a plat of a town, and 
when the owners of the site were trying to find a name 
for the place, he suggested Moulin, as they thought it 
would be a manufacturing town. After some discussion 
his suggestion was modified and the name made Moline. 
{Moline Dispatch, August 24, 1898.) 

In June, 1837, a party of engineers was formed at Ga- 
lena, with William B. Gilbert at its head, and given 
charge of the work between Galena and Rock river. In 
the same month a fourth corps of engineers was organ- 
ized at Dixon's Ferry, with Amedee Blanc in charge un- 
til the arrival of Ogilvie who continued the surveys until 
his health failed. Blanc, whose work had been confined 
to the Rock river improvement up to that time, then 
took up the railroad surveys. This party was disbanded 
in the fall of that year. {2bth Cong., 2d Sess.: Sen. Doc. 
259.) 

The division engineer's office was located at Dixon in 
a building erected by "Granny" John Wilson on the 
south side of East First Street between Galena and 
Ottawa avenues. The first term of the Circuit Court of 
Ogle County was held in that building in 1837. (Kurtz, 
History of Dixon and Palmyra; Hill, History of Lee 
County.) 

Stephenson advertised for bids for the construction of 
the railroad from Galena to the south, the bids to be 



88 LA SALLE TO INLET 

opened at Dixon's Ferry, Ogle County, May 12, 1838, 
and it appears that they were opened and the contracts 
awarded that day. The law required the concurrence 
of ''the acting commissioner on the line, and at least 
one other member of the board," together with the rec- 
ommendation of "the principal engineer in charge of the 
work," in the letting of contracts. 

Attached to the Report of Joel Wright, Commissioner 
of Public Works for the Fifth Circuit, is a report of 
Hiram P. Woodworth, Chief Engineer, dated at the Rail- 
road Office, La Salle County, November 27, 1838, stat- 
ing that contracts for the construction of that part of the 
Central Railroad extending southerly from Galena twenty 
miles had been let "last May;" that the work was delayed 
because although some of the contractors had labored 
faithfully others had abandoned their jobs and absconded, 
and, also, by reason of the "protracted and painful ill- 
ness of our late and much lamented" commissioner Col. 
Stephenson. He also said that he had had thorough sur- 
veys made on every possible route between Savanna and 
Rock river, owing to the feeling exhibited. 

From the report of T. B. Ransom, engineer, November 
28, 1838, attached to the report of Commissioner Peck, 
it appears that the line of the Central Railroad north 
of the Illinois river had been located so that it would 
cross Bureau creek about eighteen and a quarter miles 
from La Salle and Inlet creek about twenty-eight and 
two-thirds miles from La Salle; that one line had been 
considered that would cross Rock river about two miles 
above Dixon's Ferry. 

Ransom further says that the contract for the construc- 
tion of the first eleven miles north of La Salle was let 
to Kennedy & Brookin, with H. K. Curtis in charge as 
engineer. 

A petition of citizens residing "in the Rock river coun- 
try" was presented to the Legislature in 1838 soon after 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 89 

it was reported that the Board of Public works had so 
located the line of the Central Railroad that it would pass 
through Dixon, and in it these worthy citizens complained 
that the road from '''Rocky Ford on the Inlet" to a point 
on the Mississippi near Savanna had been "located to suit 
personal interests rather than those of the State;" that 
it had been located on "very uneven ground" and on a 
route longer than other routes ; that it would cross Rock 
river where the banks are so low and the bluffs recede so 
far as to cause the "construction of immense embank- 
ments to reach a viaduct of sufficient elevation to permit 
the passage of steamboats," "besides," the water is deep 
and the bottom sand and clay. To show that they were 
moved solely by public spirit, they invited attention to 
the facts that the ground from Rocky Ford to Sterling is 
quite level, that the banks of Rock river at Sterling are 
close to the water's edge and but about twenty feet 
higher; that the river bed there is a mass of solid rock 
and the water so low that the State had already begun 
the work of excavating a boat channel through this rock, 
and that it would be good policy to have the railroad 
cross Rock river at the place already selected for the im- 
provement of the river. The petition was signed by Hugh 
Wallace, Lot S. Penning-ton, Nelson Mason and some 
twenty others, showing, quite conclusively, that it eman- 
ated from Sterling. 

To overcome this petition there was presented to the 
Legislature a protest signed by some one hundred and 
thirty "Citizens on Rock River and vicinity," asserting 
that the railroad between Rockyford and Savannah "has 
been judiciously located," and referring to the reports 
of the engineers. 

Upon consideration of the petition and protest, on Jan- 
uary 14, 1839, on motion of James Craig of Jo Daviess, 
the House 

"Resolved— That the Board of Public Works be 



90 SAVANNA TO DIXON 



requested to communicate to this House at as early 
a day as practicable. * * * 

**3d. At what i^lace on Rock river the said Board 
of Public Works have determined that the Central 
railroad shall cross, and their reasons why a more 
direct route from Peru, on the Illinois river, to Sa- 
vannah, on the Mississippi river, has not been 
adopted. * * * 

''6th. Whether the line of the Central Railroad 
adopted is longer or shorter than another line from 
Peru, on the Illinois river, via the rapids on Rock 
river, to Savannah, on the Mississippi river, and the 
comparative cost of construction of the two routes. 

"7th. And that they report to this House their 
reasons for leaving an interval of ten or twenty miles 
between that part of the Central railroad already put 
under contract from Galena south, and that part pro- 
posed by the Board of Public Works to be put under 
contract, during the ensuing six months, east from 
Savannah towards Rock river." 

To this resolution the Board of Public Works answered, 
January 29, 1839, by letter to the Speaker of the House, 
saying "The Board have to state that they have not yet 
determined where the Central Railroad shall cross Rock 
river the line not having been definitely located from 
Rocky ford, or inlet, to Savanna." 

Attached to this letter was a report, under oath, of 
W. B. Gilbert, the engineer, dated at Dixon, December 
4, 1838, stating that the line from Galena south for 
twenty miles was put under contract "May last;" that 
the line had not been definitely located from the south 
end of the part under contract to Savanna; that a line 
could be run from Savanna to the Winnebago swamp by 
running dovni the Mississippi eighteen or twenty miles, 
thence through the Cat-tail swamp to Rock river, but 
such a line would not be of benefit to the country; that 
an examination had been made of a line from about eight 
miles south of Savanna up the valley of Johnson's creek 
to the ridge between that creek and little Rock creek, and 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 91 

thence to the Upper Rapids of Rock river, (at Sterling), 
over an undulating surface with a maximum grade of 
seventy one and one-half feet per mile. Attached to this 
report is one made by George W. Clarke, assistant engin- 
eer, saying that he found that the most favorable point 
for crossing the Winnebago swamp was at Rocky ford; 
that he had selected the line that was found least expen- 
sive and best suited to the wants of the country, a route 
that passes through "the most beautiful and fertile sec- 
tion of country to be found between the Mississippi and 
Rock rivers," and the rapidity \\dth which this portion 
of the countiy is settling and "the evident prosperity of 
the town of Dixon, Buffalo Grove, the Elklioni and Pres- 
tonville settlements furnish sufficient evidence that that 
location, as here recommended, is decidedly best calcu- 
lated to iDromote the interest of the w^ork. " 

Clarke says that he had divided the work between Sa- 
vanna and Rocky ford into five divisions, the first, eleven 
and a quarter miles long, had a maximum grade of sixty 
four feet to the mile for a short distance; the second, 
thirteen and ninety seven hundredths miles long, had a 
maximum grade of thirty-one feet to the mile for a dis- 
tance of nine-tenths of a mile, all the rest being under 
twenty-five feet; the third division, sixteen and forty- 
seven hundredths miles, running along Elkhom creek, 
from the mouth of Middle creek, to Chambers ' mill, thence 
to Buffalo Grove (this is the line he preferred but there 
were other lines to be further examined) ; the fourth 
division, twelve and sixty-seven hundredths miles, ran 
from the "flourishing little village of St. Marion, in Buf- 
falo Grove," and extended to Dixon where it crossed 
Rock river; the fifth di\dsion, twelve and six hundredths 
miles, ran from Dixon to Rocky ford. He, further, states 
that another line had been partly examined from the end 
of the second division having a maximum grade of fifty- 
six feet to the mile which passed "near Thomas Wardin's 
house" to and across "the valley of Buffalo creek, over 



92 BRIDGE AT DIXON 

a gently undulating plain, to the Hamilton Mounds; 
thence across the valleys of Sugar creek and Dry run by 
the claims of Mr. Fellows and Col. Stephenson to Rock 
river. ' * 

The Chambers mill was on the Elkhorn creek, near 
Brookville, and was later known as Herb's mill. The 
name of the town of St. Marion was changed to Buffalo, 
and later the town became, as it now is, that part of Polo 
called ''Old Town." Thomas Worden (not Wardin) 
lived on section twenty-two, in the town of Eagle Point, 
near Hazellmrst. Stephenson's claim was about a mile 
and a quarter west of Polo. 

A table attached to Clarke's report shows that the pro- 
posed line, after leaving St. Marion, climbs a heavy hill 
to Kellogg 's claim, thence across a prairie, and with a 
descending grade to Gee's farm; thence over another 
prairie, and an undulating country to Charters' farm, 
thence, descending a steep hill, to Dixon. The heaviest 
grade on this lino was sixty-six feet to the mile, and about 
thirteen hundred and twenty feet long. For a distance 
of about twentv-three hundred feet out of Dixon there 
was a grade of fifty-eight feet to the mile, going south. 

Speaking of the bridge needed at Dixon, Clarke says : — 

*'A bridge wdll be required to cross Rock river of 
the following dimensions: 630 feet in length; three 
arches 210 feet square; two piers sixteen feet thick 
and thirty-five feet wide at the foundation, tapering 
to eleven feet thick and thirty-one feet mde at the 
springing of the arch; the bridge must have an ele- 
vation of thirtj^-five feet above the common stage of 
water so as not to interfere witli the steamboat navi- 
gation of Rock river; the width of the bridge to be 
thirty-one feet so as to furnish a roadway for teams 
and the viaduct for the railroad, agreeably to the pro- 
visions of the state law." 

After this description Clarke continues : 

"After a careful examination of the country be- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 93 

tween the Mississippi and Rock rivers, and consider- 
ing that twenty miles below Dixon these rivers ap- 
proach within fifteen miles of each other, thereby in 
a measure superceding the necessity of connection 
by a railroad, I must express my decided opinion in 
favor of Dixon as a crossing place. This flourishing 
touTi, beautifully situated on the banks of Rock river, 
becomes a point necessarily independent of any local 
consideration, for it is but two miles north of a 
straight line draA\Ti from Savanna to Rocky ford; 
and in that distance, either above or below the towTi 
it would be impossible to find so favorable a cross- 
ing place. The water here is never known to overflow 
its banks, and abundance of stone is found on the 
margin of the river. ' ' 

Clarke compliments his assistants, George H. Hubbell 
and Henry Wing upon their work. 

Clarke's estimate of the cost of the railroad from Sa- 
vanna to Dixon was $283,791.49, including the bridge at 
$36,750. 

The plat of the toAvn of Dixon, as recorded in the Re- 
corder's office, shows the proposed right of way through 
the town, beginning at the old Chicago road and terminat- 
ing on the south bank of the river at the foot of Hennepin 
avenue. The road bed was graded practically all the way 
from Dixon to the Illinois river at La Salle, — but the rail- 
road never was completed. So far as we are advised no 
work was done between Savanna and Dixon. No grading 
was done on Hennepin avenue. The bridge never got 
any further than sketches and plans by the engineers. 
The scheme failed. The state was plmiged into an indebt- 
edness that staggered her people and prompted them to 
talk of repudiation. Fortunately, the Governor, Thomas 
Ford, was a man and he eif ectively stamped out all efforts 
at repudiation. When the collapse came auditor's war- 
rants on the treasury were selling at fifty cents on the 
dollar, there was not enough money in the treasury to pay 
postage on the state's official letters. Nobody profited by 



94 



WARRANT ON FUND COMMISSIONER 



it except the officers who drew their salaries, the con- 
tractors who were fortunate enough to get their estimates 
cashed, and the inhabitants of Spring-field who succeeded 
in their plan to have their town made the capital. 

A\^ienever any of Commissioners needed money to pay 
for work or supplies, he obtained from the Board of Pub- 
lic AVorks a draft on the Fund Commissioners (or Com- 
missioner, there being but one after 1839). A copy of 
such a draft is sho\\ni here. The John Hogan who signed 
this one as President of the Board was Register of the 
Land Office at Dixon from 1841 to 1845. All efforts to 
find a warrant payable to Mr. Dixon failed. 






FimdContmis sioner of oie StatiafllHilois, 

^a<rA ^^''fZ'/. c/.J^.a^ //***^ - /J-/*''- . r**^- 





The round hole and the slashes to its left show that 
this draft was "Cancelled and cut." On the back are 
these endorsements: "Pay bearer, J. Beall, Comr,," and 
"Paid on the principal of this Scrip Seventy 40/100 
dollars, being the dividend of the State debt fund declared 
January 1st, 1851. $70.00 40/100. Thos. H. Campbell, 
Audr." 



JOHN DIXON V. ORIN HAMLIN. 

After the Board of Public Works had finally located 
the line of that part of the Central Railroad that was to 
be constnicted between Galena and Savanna, John Dixon, 
he then being the Commissioner for the Sixth Judicial 
Circuit, advertised in the Northwestern Gazette S Galena 
Advertiser that bids for the construction of that part 
of the road would be received by him at Dixon's Ferry 
May 20, 1839. Subsequently he changed the time and 
place to Savanna June 20, and at that time and place the 
bids were received and the awards made, Orin Hamlin 
being the successful bidder for two of the sections — six 
and sixteen — into which the work was divided. Ham- 
lin began his work, and carried it on in such manner that 
he won the confidence of Mr, Dixon. 

In due course of time vouchers for work done on the 
railroad were prepared. To pay them Mr. Dixon had 
to obtain the money from Vandalia, then the State Capi- 
tal. Hamlin represented that he had some matters of his 
owii that required him to go to Vandalia and persuaded 
Mr. Dixon to let him have the draft. In the Northwest- 
ern Gazette S Galena Advertiser of August 3, 1839, is 
the follo\\dng: — 

''Messrs. Houghton S Stevens: 

I have just returned from Rock River. Mr. Ham- 
lin has made his elopement with $11,500 of the pub- 
. lie money, being the amount drawn for bj^ Mr. John 
Dixon, Rail Road Commissioner. This Avill make 
a temporary derangement of the Rail Road. But 
prompt measures are being used to replace the 
monev, so that in a verv short time the contractors 
mil be paid. 

Yours in haste, 

James Ckaig, 
July 30, 1839." 

(95) 



96 SUIT IN ATTACHMENT 

Houghton & Stevens were then the o^^^lers of the Gaz- 
ette. Craig was a survej^or, and a member of the House 
of Representatives from that district at that time. He 
lived at Craig's Mills, or Hanover, near Galena. 

While Craig puts the amount stolen at $11,500, Mr. 
Dixon, in his account with the state, charges himself with 
$11,600 as of June 13, and that is the amount he sought to 
recover by attaching Hamlin's property. 

In the Galena Gazette of August 10, 1839, appeared 
a notice, sigTied by Samuel Smoker, then clerk of the Cir- 
cuit Court of Jo Daviess Countj^ that John Dixon had 
sued out of that court a writ of attachment, dated July 
20, 1839, against Orin Hamlin in a suit to recover $11,- 
600, the writ being returnable to the then next October 
term of the court, and that there had been attached, as 
the property of Hamlin, two horses, some wheelbarrows, 
spades, shovels, picks, etc. Thomas Drummond, after- 
Avards judge of the United States Courts in Illinois for 
manv vears, acted as the attornev for Mr. Dixon, 

The Galena Gazette of August 31, 1839, contains an 
item, taken from the Chicago American of AugTist 23, 
saying that James P. Dixon had just passed through Chi- 
cago on his way home after an misuccessful search for 
Hamlin ; that he went to Louisville, thence to Portsmouth, 
thence through Ohio towards Canada until business com- 
pelled him to return home, and that he found no trace 
of Hamlin after the latter had left Louisville. 

In the "Biography of John Dixon/' in the Dixon Tele- 
graph of July, 1876, and reprinted by Kurtz in his His- 
tory of Dixon and Palmyra, in speaking of this matter, 
appears this: — '* James P. Dixon aaid Smith Gilbraith 
started in pursuit, traveling by stage coach through many 
of the Eastern States, but they returned A\"ithout success. 
Soon after James and Elijah Dixon renewed the search, 
traveling in Canada and the Eastern and New England 
States, striking his trail once in Connecticut, but again 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 97 

losing- it, they returned to Dixon without recovering any- 
thing. In the meantime J\[r. Dixon had raised the money 
and paid the amount to the State. Sometime afterwards 
Hamlin drew a prize of $25,000 in a lotteiy. With this 
and his other ill-gotten gains, he returned boldly to Ga- 
lena, and opened a store. Mr. Dixon at once instituted 
suit and recovered judgment for the $11,500 and interest. 
The sheriff closed out all of Hamlin's goods that he 
could get possession of, which paid the costs and expenses 
of the search for Hamlin, and a few hundred dollars of 
the stolen monev. ' ' 

This is inaccurate in some respects. Mr. Dixon com- 
menced his suit, as already shown, July 20, 1839, which 
nmst have been before James P. Dixon made his first 
trip and long before Hamlin opened a store in Galena. 
That suit, being, as it was, prosecuted to a judgment, 
would bar any other suit, and Judge Drummond would 
have so advised Mr. Dixon, and it is not at all probable 
that the suit mentioned in the quoted matter was brought. 

In the files of the estate of Smith Gilbraith in the 
County Court of Lee County is a paper purporting to 
be a statement of cash paid to Smith Gilbraith and others 
by John Dixon. One item reads thus : 

''July 26, 1839. Paid S. Gilbraith to go after Hamlin 
$170."^ 

The Dixon Telegraph of July 27, 1876, has a letter from 
Thomas S. Hubbard, Monticello, Iowa, saying that he was 
employed in the division engineer's office at Dixon at the 
time Hamlin took this money, and that James P. Dixon 
caught Hamlin in Baltimore where he had just drawm 
a prize in a lottery and then and there collected the 
amount stolen, "but Mr. Dixon had already paid us all 
up." For the reasons already stated, it is apparent that 
Hubbard is wrong so far as the payment by Hamlin is 
concerned. 

The Board of Public AVorks held a meeting August 



98 HAMLIN'S CONFESSION 

27, 1839, and the record of that meeting, in part, reads 
as follows : — 

*'Mr. Peck presented the follo\\-ing communication 
from Orrin Hamlin to John Dixon, Esq. to ^dt : 

Louisville, July 15, 1839. 
Mr. Dixon, 

Dear Sir : 

I take my pen in hand to inform you of an event 
that you little expect. I proceded in relation to the 
draft as you directed me ; deposited it and took a cer- 
tificate of the same, and called on my return and 
got the money. After draA\*ing the money it struck 
me that I could make a first rate speculation by go- 
ing back to Louisville and buying up Mineral Point 
money, Cairo and Dubuque, Avhich was selling at a 
discount of 4, 5 and 10 per cent, discount. Accord- 
ingly I started on a boat up the river ( forever to my 
shame be it spoken), and on my way there I got en- 
gaged in playing poker for the first and last time 
in my life for money. I got a hand I supposed to be 
the best in the pack, and I commenced betting, and my 
opponent backed me up, until he got up to eight thou- 
sand dollars, and then called me, and to my astonish- 
ment and ruin he held the best hand, whereas mine 
was but the second best. Judge of my feelings at the 
time — it nearly turned me mad. I resolved in my 
mind during the night what was to be done — return 
I could not, so I resolved to send for my family and 
leave the country', until by the means of the balance I 
could return and pay you, which if the Lord lives, 
and my soul lives, shall be done as soon as any honest 
business will enable me to do so. T hope you ^\'ill let 
my work all be measured and give me credit for per 
cent, and all, and let my brother know to what extent 
T am deficient — it is better for laborers to lose a 
part than you all. I intend leaving this comitrv al- 
together for some length of time — but you need not 
be afraid but Avhat you vriW get the money some time 
not far distant, for T swear by the holy Evangelist 
that if I am permitted to live. T will earn the money 
and pay you every farthing: but for the sake of my 
connections, do not be harsher with character than 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 99 

you can help to sustain yours, for T do believe I am 
still honest (but been veiy imprudent) and you shall 
yet say so if I live. It will be useless to follow me, 
for my plan of leaving is so well executed I shall leave 
no traces behind, for I could not look an acquaintance 
in the face again until all things are righted again. 
I have sent for my family, but have concealed all 
this affair from them. They will be here today or 
tomorrow. My business is all arranged in regard to 
my private atfairs, which is not in a very prosperous 
condition, nearly all mortgaged for about half its 
worth, which I expect ^\'ill have to be sacrificed. I 
am afraid you A\*i]l lose your office by my imprudence, 
but if you do I will try and make amends for it: for 
the works are short lived, for there is eight millions 
of Illinois bonds throAni in market in Europe with- 
out a prospect of getting a dollar. AVith regret I 
bid you adieu, and when we meet again I am in hopes 
you will have good reason for a return of your friend- 
ship, which has been so grossly abused by your 
I do not know what to say 

Orix Hamlin. 
John Dixon, Esq. 

AVe, the undersigned, do herebv certifv that we 
have examined the original as written bv Orin Ham- 
lin, that we are acquainted with his handwriting, and 
that the within is a true copv thereof. 

A. M. Hunt, 
H. B. Still:max, 
RuDOLPHUS Rouse. 
Peoria, July 28, 1839. 

Which was read and ordered to be tiled. On motion of 
^fr. Peck the following preamble and order was adopted, 
to wit : 

AMiereas, proof has been made to the satisfaction of 
this Board, that Orin Hamlin a contractor on the Central 
railroad in the 6th Judicial Circuit, has received from 
the Commissioner a large amount of money over and 
above the sum due him: and whereas said Conmiissioner 
has no means of obtaining the receipt of said Hamlin to 
his estimates; 



100 JUDGMENT 

Therefore ordered that the Secretary of this Board cer- 
tify on the estimate of the Engineer tliat the amount of 
said estimate should be properly credited to John Dixon, 
Commissioner of the 6th Judicial Circuit." 

When he made his final settlement with the State, Mr. 
Dixon was credited with payments to Hamlin aggregat- 
ing $4,923.44 as though made in August, 1839, and it is 
reasonably safe to assume that these payments were made 
pursuant to the action of the Board of Public Works, and 
that Mr. Dixon charged this amount against Hamlin. 

The attachment suit brought by Mr. Dixon Avas allowed 
to slumber until June 18, 1841, when, as appears from 
the Jo Daviess County records, he obtained a judgment 
in the case against Hamlin for $3,055, and costs. On 
December 14, 1841, Alexander Young, then Sheriff of 
that county, reported the judgment ''satisfied in full." 
This clearly disproves the statement that Mr. Dixon "re- 
covered judgment for the $11,500 and interest," and there 
is no record of any suit by Mr. Dixon against Hamlin in 
Jo Daviess County, except this attachment suit. 

That Hamlin did return to Galena is shown by a letter 
written, October 7, 1840, by Smith Gilbraith to Major 
James Sterling in which Gilbraith, speaking of this mat- 
ter, says — ' ' I am going to Galena this week to see Hamlin 
who owes him (Dixon) yet $5,000." Considering this 
in connection with the fact that judgment was taken for 
but a small part of the claim, it seems very clear that 
Hamlin must have paid a good part of the debt before 
the judginent was rendered. 

That there was difficulty in collecting this judgment 
is evident from the sworn statement of plaintiff's attor- 
ney, which reads as follows: 

"On the 18th day of June A. D. 1841, I obtained a 
judgment in favor of John Dixon vs. Orin Hamlin 
before the Jo Daviess Circuit Court for the sum of 
three thousand and fifty five Dollars ($3055). On 
this judgment an execution issued & a levy was made 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 101 

& some property sold by the sheriff. I find by my 
memorandum book that on the 27 day of September 
1841 the sum of two thousand six hundred 31/100 
Dollars were paid to me by the sheriff which sum 
($2600. 31/100) I paid to Mr. Gilbraith on the 14th 
day of October 1841 as by the order of Mr. Dixon 
which I think I still have in my possession. Of 
course this amount of $2600.31 did not pay up the 
judginent and there was a stable sold & bought 
in in the name of Mr. Gilbraith to wiiom Mr. Dixon 
had committed the whole business. This stable was 
afterwards sold by Mr. Gilbraith at auction I think 
some time in April 1842. The stable brought $405. 
Mr. Montgomery was the auctioneer. Out of this 
sum of $405 Mr. Montgomery paid me one hundred 
Dollars ($100) on the 2d day of May 1842. There 
was something paid out of this sum of ($405) for 
ground rent & for the expenses of sale. It appears 
by the receipt of Mr. Gilbraith which I have seen 
that on the 16th dav of May 1842 Mr. Montgomery 
paid to Mr. Gilbraith the sum of ($254.77) two hun- 
dred fifty four 77/100 Dollars — which I suppose was 
the proceeds of the sale after deducting the $100 
paid me and the expenses of sale & the ground rent. 
It seems that Mr. Gilbraith received on this judgment 
of Mr. Dixon vs. Hamlin $2855.08 being the amount 
paid him bv me and Mr. Montgomery as above stated 
I paying him $2600.31 & Mr Montgomery $254.77. 
All of which is true to the best of my knowledge, 
recollection & belief. 

Thomas Drummond. 

State or Illinois 
Jo Daviess County 

Sworn to & subscribed before me this 3d day of 
August A. D. 1843, as witness my hand & the official 
seal of the Circuit Court of Jo Daviess County. 
(Seal.) Attest Wm. H. Bradley 

Clerk of Circuit Court 

of Jo Daviess Coiintij." 

Hamlin was elected sheriff of Peoria County in Aug- 
ust, 1828, and county commissioner in 1834. In 1833 the 



102 HAMLIN AT PEORIA 

county court of Peoria Count}^ granted a permit to Alvah 
Moffat, Aquila Moffatt and Hamlin to erect a mill dam 
across Kickapoo creek, in what afterwards became Lime- 
stone township, and they built what was long known as 
the Monroe mill. In 1836 Robert Little, Augustus Lang- 
worthy and Hamlin laid out the town of Detroit, on the 
bank of the Illinois about six miles above Peoria. In 
1843 he built in Peoria the county's first steam flouring 
mill. It would appear that Hamlin did not remain in hid- 
ing very long, for on December 8, 1840, Hart Fellows, 
Commissioner of Public Works for the 5th Judicial Cir- 
cuit, paid him $2,177.91 for construction work, but the 
report does not disclose anything more of the matter and 
we do not know where the work was performed. The 
reference, in his letter, to his brother prompts the thought 
that he may have been a brother of John Hamlin of 
Peoria. 



THE DIXON HOTEL COMPANY. 

In 1837 the people of Dixon felt the need of a hotel that 
would be more in keeping with the town. Some of her 
enterprising business men conceived the idea of forming 
a corporation that would build and operate a modern, up- 
to-date hotel. They prepared and sent to Vandalia, then 
the capital of the State, a bill for "An Act incorporating 
the Dixon Hotel Company," which, having passed both 
houses of the legislature, received the Governor's ap- 
proval March 2, 1837. 

This Act declares John Atchison, James Evans, Charles 
S. Boyd, John Dixon, William C. Bostwick, Smith "Gal- 
breath," James P. Dixon, L. S. Huff, John Brown, and 
their associates and successors, a corporation for the 
term of twenty years, under the name of the "Dixon Ho- 
tel Company." It placed the capital stock at twenty 
thousand dollars, appointed Evans, Boyd, "Galbreath" 
and James P. Dixon commissioners, to receive subscrip- 
tions for the capital stock, and empowered the company 
to purchase and hold land on which it could build and 
operate a hotel during the term of the corporation's life. 

Boyd lived, in Bureau county and was a brother-in-law 
of John Dixon. Atchison and Bostwick lived in Galena, 
the former being a director and the latter cashier of the 
Galena branch of the State Bank. Bostwick afterwards 
studied law and was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1842. 
Possibly the company thought it could obtain funds from 
the State Bank, as that seems to have been an easy thing 
to do. 

This Act does not, either by express grant or by im- 
plication, authorize the company to issue any notes or 
bills with the intent of circulating them as money. An 
examination of the original bill, which still remains on 
file in the office of the Secretary of State, shows that when 
the bill was presented to the legislature it contained a 

(103) 



104 



ISSUED BILLS 



section, numbered two, specifically giving the corporation 
power to issue such bills, but that section was stricken out, 
and the bill was passed without any such provision. 

The fact that the movers in the enterprise asked for a 
grant of such power may have prompted in their minds 
the thought that as the bill passed it did give that au- 
thority. At all events, wiiatever the reasoning may have 
been, the company did issue such bills and some of them 
are still in existence. The bills that have survived are 
in the denominations of one, three and five dollars. One 
of them is shown here. These notes had nothing what- 
ever to do with the work on the old central railroad. 

All of them that have come to our knowledge were pay- 
able to " N. Biddle or bearer ' '. Students of United States 
history need not be told that this fictitious payee was the 
head of the Bank of the United States. 

The company built the foundations for the original 
part of what is now the Nachusa Tavern, and then stop- 
ped work, its money being spent, and its energies ex- 
hausted. 

In 1853 another corporation, with a capital of ten 
thousand dollars, built the original Nachusa House on 
these foundations, the house being opened to the public 
for business December 10, of that year. 




THE ILLINOIS AND ROCK RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY. 

The complete failure of the state's internal improve- 
ment scheme was a hard blow to Dixon, but her enter- 
prising business men were resourceful and soon evolved 
a plan that they fondly believed would secure to them 
some of the advantages they hoped to secure from the 
construction of the Central Rail Road. They appealed 
to the legislature and secured the passage of ''An Act 
to provide for the construction of a railroad from La 
Salle to Dixon," which was approved February 27, 1841. 

This act created a corporation to be known as the Illi- 
nois and Rock River Rail Road Company, to exist for 
a term of fifty years, with a capital stock of five hundred 
thousand dollars, divided into fifty dollar shares, and 
authorized it to construct and operate a railroad from 
La Salle "to the village of Dixon, in the county of Lee," 
terminating at such points on the Illinois and Rock Riv- 
ers as the company might select. 

It appointed Horatio Newhall of Galena, Michael Ken- 
nedy of La Salle county, William Wilkinson and Dr. Oli- 
ver Everett of Dixon, commissioners to receive subscrip- 
tions for the capital stock. 

The act empowered this company to take possession 
of such roads or parts of railroad as had been constructed 
by the state, and to use them, and all materials of the 
state thereon, in the construction of the proposed railroad, 
but carefully provided that such possession was not to 
be taken until all the improvements made by the state 
and all the materials of the state had been valued by 
some competent engineer, and the amount so found by 
the engineer to be their value should be considered as 
so much capital stock of the company owned by the state. 
The state agreed, by the terms of the act, to furnish 
such necessary iron for a single track railroad as it had 
on hand. 



106 



STOCK SUBSCRIPTIONS 



It was further provided by the act that if the company 
did not complete its line within five years, or did not 
expend at least ten thousand dollars in twelve months 
after its organization, and at least ten thousand dollars 
in each twelve months thereafter, then the railroad and 
all the property of the company should revert to and 
become the property of the state. 

The commissioners opened subscription books and re- 
ceived some subscriptions, and caused receipts to be is- 
sued to the subscribers, one of them being shown here. 
Having obtained some money by this method, the com- 
pany undertook to complete the railroad, but was unable 
to do this, as it could not obtain the necessary capital. 

Enough of receipt No. 1 remains to show that it was 
for $10, paid by Harrison, was dated the same day and 
was signed by Keeler. The ornamental work at the left 
end varies from that shown above. 




Illinois ami Rock River Rail-roacl Compcinj . 1 | 




e 



tUia Cei-tifJcss that ./-i^^ri^^tf^ 



■<??^::;t'.'-=^-r-^ 



of hearer. 



^1*) is mt'dled to a credit en f/ie' parcJmse of stock in ila- f r.LiNoj.s \.\f) I'ock Kiver' 
''^^^i^^ RA1I.-210A1> COin^ANY. to the amounl (?/F!¥E BOLLABSi ■ 



>^ ^ 



jiS-jz. 



^>-^< ^^/2r ^/J^- C. 




TifiLSiirn'. 



In its chapter on the town of Amboy, Hill's History 

of Lee County, p. 304, in speaking of the old Central Eail- 

road, says : 

*'Dr. Harrison, of Peru, took a contract to build 
part of the line, and sent a force of laborers here 
in the fall of 1841 to renew the grading which had 
been begun four or five years before and worked upon 
at intervals afterward. He started a bank in Pern 
and issued circulation; but one day somebody went 
down and demanded specie for his paper, and was 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 107 

refused. When news of this reached the gang of 
men up here they dropped their tools, and the sun 
never rose on a resumption of the work. Harrison's 
paper was in the hands of the people in this section, 
where it has remained so long that its * staying qual- 
ities ' are fully and forever established. It was known 
as 'Bangs' railroad money', and is a reminiscence 
of 'wildcat' banking, and of the old Central 'mid- 
cat ' improvement. ' ' 

On page 471 of the same work, in the chapter on the 

town of May, speaking of John Darcy, who settled in 

that town in 1840, we find this: 

"About this time Mr. Darcy worked a few weeks 
on the old State railroad, then being graded through 
May. Mr. Darcy, like many others, received nothing 
for his labor but some worthless paper issued by 
a certain A. H. Bongs (Bangs) of La Salle, who had 
started a bank there." 

When the company suspended work the laborers be- 
came very indignant, and in their rage seized Bangs and 
dragged him through the streets. Serious injury would 
have been done to him but for the intervention of others 
who put him in a skiff and sent him down the river. 
(Beebe, History of Peru.) 

A reading of Beebe 's History of Peru induces the be- 
lief that the author thought "Dr. Harrison" was an 
unscrupulous quack. 

Anson H. Bangs was president of the Bank of the 
United States at Syracuse, New York, as well as of the 
Farmers & Mechanics' Bank of Onondaga, at Fayette- 
ville. New York. 

From the report made to the legislature, in 1840, by 
Governor Carlin, it appears that the State had sold its 
internal improvement bonds, to the amount of fifty thou- 
sand dollars, to A. H. Bangs & Co., who were connected 
with the Onondaga Bank, and who obtained possession 
of these bonds without making any payment for them, 
and then sold them or some of them, to third persons, 



108 TIME EXTENDED 

whose names the Governor was unable to learn. He 
advised that suit be brought against Bangs to restrain 
the sale of the bonds, so far as that could be done, and 
to compel payment for them. 

There was presented to the Thirteenth General As- 
sembly a petition reciting that under the act providing 
for the incorporation of the Illinois and Rock River 
Rail Road Company, the commissioners named in that 
act opened books for stock subscriptions and it was all 
taken by A. H. Bangs, who thereafter acted and was 
recognized as the president of that company; that the 
company, through Bangs, let contracts for the construc- 
tion of the road and that work to the amount of ten 
thousand dollars was done thereon by the petitioners; 
that "the company did not pay a single cent to any 
contractor or workman" and that both the company and 
Bangs had absconded and disappeared. The prayer of 
the petition was that the state estimate the work the 
petitioners had done and charge it to the amount ex- 
pended by the state on that part of the Central Rail Road. 
The petition was sent to the committee on internal im- 
provements, and, on February 27, 1843, laid on the table. 

All the signers of this petition were residents of La 
Salle county. The petition does not show in what locality 
the work mentioned was done. 

The legislature passed, and there was approved on 
March 6, 1843, "An Act to extend the time for the 
completion of the Illinois and Rock River Rail Road," 
which provides that the time for the construction of the 
road shall be extended until five years after the final 
completion of the Illinois and Michigan canal, and it 
authorizes the company to extend its line beyond "the 
village of Dixon" and to terminate it at some point on 
the Mississippi River. 

On May IG, 1843, Governor Thomas Ford wrote D. H. 
T. Moss, Esq. : 

' ' I am obliged to you for the information contained. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 109 

in your letter of the twelfth instant; and I accord- 
ingly empower you to sell any of the timber or stone 
or other materials, on or near the line of the railroad 
between La Salle and Dixon, either at public or pri- 
vate sale, according to your best judgment; also to 
change the places of the public sales heretofore di- 
rected. I also authorize you to settle with any and 
all persons who may have used any such materials ; 
and to sue for the same, in case they refuse to ac- 
count, at fair and reasonable prices, and pay for the 
same." 

June 16, 1843, Governor Thomas Ford wrote to George 
W. Gilson, Esq., as follow^s : 

"In answer to your letter I beg leave to state 
that I have been informed that the officers and agents 
of the Rock River Rail Road Company have been 
selling the materials of the road for their own use 
and without intending to make the road. This, if 
true, is a fraud on the State and of a piece with the 
villainy practiced everywhere upon the public inter- 
ests. I desire you to inform the president of that 
company and all others interested that it is my in- 
tention to have actions at law commenced here in 
Sangamon county against all persons found commit- 
ting those frauds." 

Gilson had been an engineer in the employment of the 
state and in November, 1838, had charge of the construc- 
tion of the old Central Railroad south of La Salle. 

This letter was evidently written when the Governor 
was not fully advised as to the facts in the case. It brought 
a letter from H. P. Woodworth, writing in behalf of the 
company. 

June 23, 1843, Governor Ford wrote to Woodworth as 
f ollow^s : 

"I received your letter of the 20th instant and 
am much gratified that the Illinois and Rock River 
Railroad Co. has been organized in good faith and 
with the intention of making the road. I heartily wish 
you success. It appears from your letter that this 
is the day which has been appointed by Mr. Moss 
for the sale of the timber, stone, &c. 



110 SCHEME ABANDONED 

"I am sorry that you or some other person did 
not write me sooner. I did not know who the com- 
pany were, and from my advices I could not but be- 
lieve that a pretended company existed who were 
about to commit great frauds on the State. If, how- 
ever, I could have been furnished with the informa- 
tion contained in your letter in time I would have 
ordered Mr. Moss to delay proceedings until the 
matter could have been inquired into. If you see 
Mr. Moss, and he has not yet sold, show him this let- 
ter and request him to desist until I can further in- 
quire into the matter." 

Woodworth had been principal engineer of the state 
on the northern division of the old Central Railroad. 
From this letter it would seem that he had become con- 
nected, in some capacity, with the Illinois and Rock River 
Rail Road Company. 

We have found no evidence indicating that the Gov- 
ernor made further ''enquiry," or that anything more 
was done in the matter. It is common knowledge that 
the road was not built. 



THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH. 

Kurtz's History of Dixon and Palmyra, p. 6, says: 
"May 28, 1838, 'The First Regular Baptist Church 
of Dixon and Buffalo Grove was organized at Buffalo 
Grove, Thomas Powell moderator, the following 
named persons were the oi'iginal members : Houland 
Bicknell, Rebecca Dixon, Elizabeth Bellows, Jerusha 
Hammond, Sarah Kellogg, Martha Parks and Ann 
Clarley." 

The "History of the Ulinois River Baptist Associa- 
tion," prepared by Gilbert S. Bailey for and published 
by the Association in 1857, says that the annual meeting 
of the association was held in Princeton in 1838 and ad- 
mitted to membership "Dixon and Buffalo Grove in Lee 
County with fourteen members." At this meeting a com- 
mittee was appointed to prepare sketches of the origin 
of the churches, and its report, in part, reads as follows : 

"Dixon and Buffalo Grove. Two Baptist sisters 
from the Mulberry street church, in New York, set- 
tled with their families in these places some years 
before the removal of the Indians, and continued 
alone until the commencement of the white settle- 
ments introduced a few Baptist brethren around 
them. In the latter part of May, they were visited 
and gathered into a church by elder Thomas Powell. 
Three were received and baptized into the fellowship 
of the church at that time." 

It appears from this authority that the annual meeting 
of the association was held in Dixon in June, 1842, when 
the Dixon church had forty members, and that Dixon and 
Buffalo Grove were dismissed the following year, to 
unite with the Rock River Association. 



(Ill) 



LEE COUNTY'S FIRST PHYSICIAN. 

Dr. Green Forrest, a Kentuckian, announced in the 
Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser of April 
25, 1835, and the subsequent numbers for six months, 
that he had ''located, permanently, one mile northeast 
of Dixon's Ferry, where he can be found at all times 
when not absent on professional business." 

That he was there before the day of the first advertise- 
ment is shown by John Dixon's account books, which 
contain undated charges of a dollar for "11 light sash," 
and seventy-five cents for ''12 glass," and a load of hay, 
price not stated, and these precede a charge of one dollar 
and a quarter for shoeing a horse "Mar. 5," and a 
charge, "Apl, 1," for a load of hay, price not stated, and 
a credit dated "Mar. 9, 1835." The last dated charge 
against him on these books is that of August 21, 1835. 

Dr. Forrest lived on what was known for years as the 
Woodford farm, above the Assembly grounds. Later he 
built and lived in a log house that stood at the southwest 
corner of East River street and Ottawa avenue. It is 
stated by John K. Robinson, in Kurtz's History of Dixon 
and Palmyra, that Dr. Forrest went back to Kentucky, 
but the time of his departure is not knoAvn now. There 
are circumstances, however, that make it reasonably 
certain that he left Dixon in 1835. 

A Dr. Spencer, son of John C. Spencer of New York, 
once Secretary of War and later Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, was living in Dixon in September, 1836, when Dr. 
Oliver Everett arrived there in his search for a location. 
Spencer immediately importuned Everett to stay so that 
he might return to New York, saying he did not want to 
live so far from his old home and friends, but had prom- 
ised Mr. Dixon he would stay until a successor appeared. 
When Everett decided to locate there Spencer gave him 



DRS. RUTLIDG AND EVANS 113 

several books, one being a copy of Byron's Poems. Long 
afterwards Everett found those parts of Don Juan de- 
scribing the mutiny of the ship's crew were underscored 
by pencil marks. Later there was a mutiny on one of 
the vessels of our navy, and the leaders of the crew seem 
to have followed the conduct described by Byron. One 
of that mutinous crew was Dr. Spencer's brother, and 
for his participation in the mutiny he was hanged at the 
yard arm. These facts were related to the writer on 
several occasions by Dr. Everett. 

In the account books kept by John Dixon there is an 
account reading ''Doctor Eutlidg"— "1832, May ^, 
commenced," but there is nothing showing what was 
commenced or how long it was continued, nor is there 
any amount charged. Following this is the last entry — 
"Dinner for six men $1.50," but it is without date. There 
are several charges, beginning December 25, 1834, and 
ending March 30, 1835, against "Dr. Evans," for letters, 
evidently meaning the postage on letters. The books 
give no other information of these men, or either of them. 

As Dr. Everett made his home in Dixon in 1836 and 
remained there for more than fifty years, the rest of his 
life, he is entitled to be called the first physician in Lee 
county. 



EARLY POLITICS. 

The Northwestern Gazette & Galena Advertiser says 
that at an election in August, 1836, the vote in the Dixon 
precinct of Ogle county for members of the House of 
Representatives was, Elijah Charles (elected), 10; Lu- 
ther H. Bowen of Savanna, 10; John Turney of Galena, 
10; James Craig (elected), 8, and Bennett, 1. 



-0- 



At the congressional election in 1838 the Third district, 
containing the thriving towns of Decatur, Springfield, 
Quincy, Bloomington, Galena and Chicago, had two candi- 
dates — John T. Stuart, Whig, and Stephen A. Douglas, 
Democrat. Andreas' History of Chicago says Douglas 
received 18,337, Stuart 18,405. C. C. Brown, vol. 7, p. 
110, Publications, Illinois Historical Library, says the 
total vote was 36,461, and Stuart's majority 14. Dr. J. F. 
Snyder, in his article upon James H. Ralston (Publica- 
tions 111. State His. Soc, v. 13, p. 223) says Douglas had 
18,213 votes and Stuart 18,248. 

The Sangamon Journal (Springfield) of September 8, 
1838, says the official vote was Douglas 17730, Stuart 
17807. 

The Ulinois State Register and People's Advocate 
(Vandalia) of October 12, 1838, says the official vote, "as 
corrected," was Douglas 18242, Stuart 18247, and that 
the vote in Ogle county was Douglas 273, Stuart 532. 

In a letter dated November 10, 1884, J. Young Scam- 
mon writes to the Inter Ocean that "Douglas was in- 
Chicago on the day of the election, and he received so 
large a vote in Cook County that he had no doubt of his 
election. He Avas so elated that when he started for 
Jacksonville, where he then resided, he took his seat on 
the front of the stage with the driver, and traveled on 
down to Lockport, receiving the congratulations of his 

(114) 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 115 

friends on the way. When he got to the latter place 
he found that the canal men and hands had voted against 
him because in the Legislature he was in favor of the 
'shallow cut,' and opposed to a deep canal. Mr. E. B. 
Talcott was then an assistant engineer on the canal 
works and resided in Lockport. He engineered the bolt 
and induced the scratching of Douglas' name from Dem- 
ocratic tickets and substituting Stuart's. This was a 
discouraging aspect of the case, but as Douglas pro- 
ceeded southward on his journey he found that this de- 
fection did not extend far below Lockport, and that 
Ottawa and Peru and the residue of the canal regions 
had given him the usual democratic majorities. But 
when he arrived at Peoria, which was then the central 
point whence the stages converged, he found that the 
military tract was less favorable to him than he had ex- 
pected, and the belief was there that Stuart was elected 
by a small majority. It was so close, however, that the 
result w^as claimed by both parties, and doubt was not 
removed until the official returns reached the office of 
the Secretary of State, which showed that Douglas was 
elected by 8 majority. Mr. James Matheny, who was 
at that time a young and very ardent Whig, said he 
believed 'the Democrats had been cheating us,' and if 
any one would pay his expenses he would saddle his 
horse in the morning and go to every county-seat and 
examine the poll-books. Mr. Stuart paid his expenses 
and he made the examination, traveling over the whole 
district and examining all the poll-books. He found 
quite a number of errors, but they all canceled each other, 
except in one precinct, where the poll-book showed that 
in carrying over Stuart's vote from one page where he 
had a majority his votes were put in the Douglas column 
on the next page, and Douglas' into his. Correcting this 
mistake the decision of the returns was reversed, and 
Stuart elected by twelve or thirteen votes. This w^as 



116 S. A. DOUGLASS 

done and the facts certified to the Secretary of State, 
and Stuart got the certificate." 

Scammon says that the voting was viva voce, and that 
is the fact, no ballots being cast, and no ballot box being 
used, so his reference to scratched tickets is incompre- 
hensible. 

Frederick R. Butcher, who was then living in Dixon, 
discovered an error in the addition of the votes in the 
precincts in Lee comity, and he promptly made his 
discovery known to John S. Roberts of Springfield, who, 
in turn, laid the matter before Douglas. In a few days 
Dutcher received the following letter: 

Springfield, Oct. 2d, 1839. 
Dear Sir: 

Mr. Roberts has just placed in my hands a letter 
from you show a mistake in the Poll Book of your 
precinct of 3 votes. Every vote is importan at this 
crisis. You have my grateful acknowledgements for 
the kindness you have already shown. But I must 
ask of you the favor to carefully add up the votes 
in each of the other precincts and see if there have 
been no mistakes in the addition of them by the 
Clerks & Judges. This can all be done at the Clerk's 
office where you will find all the Poll Books of the 
county. AATien you shall have examined all the Poll 
Books I wish you would get the Clerk of the Co 
Comrs Court to call to his assistance two Justices 
of the Peace & to make a new return correcting the 
mistakes, This has been done in many other coun- 
ties and will be in all soon. It is important that this 
should be attended to immediately as the time is fast 
approaching when I must leave for Washington. 
Please send the names of the illegal voters and also 
the witness by whom they can be proven to be 
illegal. I am with great respect 

your friend, 

S. A. Douglass. 
F. R. Dutcher, Esq., 
Dixon, Lee Co., 
III. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 117 

Dutclier immediately re-examined the Lee county books 
and then carefully examined the books in Ogle, White- 
side and Carroll, only to find that the errors there coun- 
terbalanced. 

The great majority of the electors in the Dixon pre; 
cinct voted for Stuart, in retaliation upon Douglas for 
his support of John Phelps in the fight for the county 
seat. 



The first political convention held in Lee county con- 
vened in November, 1839, and was due to the activities 
of Frederick R. Dutcher. He received the following let- 
ter in October of that year: 

Sir : 

The State Central Corresponding Committee have 
deemed it advisable to call a State Convention of the 
Democratic Party, at Springfield, on the 2d Monday 
in December next, for the purpose of adopting a 
more efficient system of organization, and also to 
nominate candidates for Presidential Electors. The 
propriety of this measure has been pressed upon 
the consideration of the Committee by many of our 
friends from different parts of the State, and its 
necessity is rendered the more urgent by the zealous, 
energetic, concerted movements of the Federal party 
in this State. That Party has recently held a State 
Convention in this place; has adopted an efficient 
system of organization, with their State, County 
and Precinct Committees ; have nominated their Can- 
didates for Presidential Electors ; and have instruct- 
ed those Candidates to mount the stump, and har- 
rangue the people wherever they can find them as- 
sembled; and, in short, are prepared for and have 
avowed their determination to make a vigorous and 
determined effort for the prostration of Democratic 
principles, and the ascendancy of Federal Whiggery, 
in this State, and the Nation. The result of such 
an issue we do not doubt or fear. We are willing 
and ought to be prepared to meet them boldly and 



118 CALL FOR STATE CONVENTION 

fearlessly upon their own ground, and fight them 
in the manner, and upon the issue they have formed. 
For the purpose of being fully prepared for the 
contest, equally well organized, and upon an equal 
footing at the opening of the campaign, you are re- 
quested to immediately consult with our friends, and 
call a meeting in your county, and appoint delegates 
to the proposed Convention. 

Each County is requested to send a number of 
Delegates at least double the number of their Sena- 
tors and Representatives in the General Assembly; 
and each County, no matter how small, two Dele- 
gates, and as many more as it chooses. 

As our Government is emphatically a Government 
of the People, deriving its existence from them, we 
would recommend an expression of opinion in your 
Resolutions upon the subjects that agitate the coun- 
try, and upon the following, particularly: 

1st. The Constitutional Treasury Bill, as rec- 
ommended by President Van Buren. 

2d. A National Bank, as recommended by Mr. 
Clay. 

3d. The GAG BILL, depriving officers of the 
right of speech, as introduced by Mr. Crit- 
tenden, in the U. S. Senate, and by Mr. Otwell, 
in the Illinois Legislature. 

4th. The Repeal of the Salt Tax and the sup- 
pression of the Salt Monopoly, as recommend- 
ed by Mr. Benton, Mr. Woodbuiy, and other 
distinguished Democrats in Congress. 

5th. The right of the Governor to nominate a 
Secretary of State, as provided by the Con- 
stitution, and exercised by Gov. Carlin. 

6th. The decision of the Supreme Court in- 
stalling A. P. Field in office for life. 

An expression of opinion upon the above, and 
such other subjects as shall occur to you as import- 
ant to the country, is desired in order that the Dele- 
gates may bring with them the sentiments of the 
people upon these interesting questions. 

We would further recommend that at your meet- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 119 

ings you appoint a Corresponding Committee for 
your County, at or near the County Seat, to consist 
of three persons, and also a Committee of Vigilance 
of three persons in each Justice's Precinct of your 
County, to continue as permanent Committees until 
others shall be appointed, and to be composed of 
sound and efficient Democrats, who will use all fair 
and honorable means to sustain the Principles and 
Candidates of the Democratic Party. You will 
please forward the proceedings of your meeting to 
the State Register, at this place, and to the other 
nearest Democratic paper, for publication. We are 
very respectfully your fellow citizens. 

Virgil Hickox, 
John Taylor, 
Robert Allen, 
John Calhoun, 
Charles R. Hurst, 
John S. Roberts, 
David Prickett, 
Corresponding Committee. 

Springfield, October 10, 1839. 

Dutcher consulted with some of his fellow Democrats 
and formed a committee that called a county convention 
and then organized a precinct committee that issued the 
following : 

''NOTICE 

A meeting of the democratic party of the Dixon 
precinct will be held at the Western Hotel on Friday 
15th inst at 6 o'clock P M for the purpose of ap- 
pointing four delegates to meet at the same place on 
the 16th inst at 12 o'clock to meet delegates from 
the different precincts of this County to appoint del- 
agates to meet the State Convention to be held at 
Springfield on the 2nd Monday in December next for 
the purpose of nominating Candidates for the Pres- 
idential Electors and such other business as may 
be deamed necessary for the better organising the 
Democratic party of this County also pass resilu- 



120 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 

• 

tions reliteve to the Questions in a certain letter 
reed from the State Corresponding Committee. 

Frederick R, Dutcher, 

Harvey Morgan, 

Daniel Frost, 
Corresponding Committee. 
Dixon Nov 14th 1839." 

No record of the other proceedings of this precinct 
committee was preserved. The record of the county con- 
vention still exists and it reads thus : 

"At a Democratic meeting of Delegates appointed 
from each precinct pursuant to a call from the Cen- 
tral Corresponding Committee of Lee county con- 
vened at the Western Hotel in Dixon the 16th inst 
at 12 o'clock for the purpose of appointing delegates 
to attend the State Convention at Springfield on the 
2d Monday in December next — and such other busi- 
ness as might be deemed necessary. 

Samuel Johnston was called to the chair & Fred- 
erick R Dutcher appointed secretary 

The object of the meeting having been stated by 
the chair 

Resolved that a committee of three be appointed 
by the chair to recommend to this meeting suitable 
delegates to. attend the State convention at Spring- 
field and Draft resolutions expressive of the viewa 
of this meeting. 

The following persons composed said committee 
Wm. P Burroughs 
Daniel Frost 

Jeremiah Whipple 
who after retiring a short time made the following 
report, which was unanimously adopted — 

Wliereas a crisis now exists in this nation, which 
every true republican must feel the Importance of 
to the Democratic party, and whereas we believe the 
principles adopted by Martin Van Buren are the 
true principles of the party and should be supported 
by every true Democrat, Therefore Resolved that 
the delegates to Springfield to nominate candidates 
for presidential electors be instructed to vote for 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 121 

such men as will support the principles of the pres- 
ent administration — 

1st. Kesolved, That the Subtreasury Scheme is 
the trne method of receiving and disbursing the 
Public Revinue, also that it is the duty of every true 
Democrat to sustain Martin Van Buren for the next 
presidency in order that he may more fully carry 
out the views of the administration Party — 

2d. Resolved, That we believe it is the duty of 
the Democratic party in this State to be more cau- 
tious in appointing men in office as it appears that a 
majority of Democratic appointments are conserva- 
tives and AVhigs and that none but true and Tryed 
Democrats should Receive Important appointments 
to office from the Democratic Republicans of this 
State. 

3d. Resolved, that in nominating John A. Mc- 
Clernand Secretary of State Gov Carlin exercised 
the right guaranteed him by the constitution of this 
State, and should be supported by every true Dem- 
ocrat. 

4th. Resolved, That the decision of the Supreme 
Court of this State installing A P Field in the office 
of Secretary of State for life is both unconstitutional 
and entirely at variance with the principles of Re- 
publican Institutions. 

5th. Resolved, that the Sistem of plundering and 
Swindling carried on by the Banks throughout the 
union has been the means of building up an aristo- 
cratic party, styling themselves Whigs, and that we 
predict the downfall of Federal Whigery, and their 
handmaids, whenever the Political jugling of the 
one, and the corruption of the other, shall be more 
apparent to the Honest Yeomanry of the country. 

6th. Resolved, that the transactions of the State 
Bank of Illinois have become oppressive to the ma- 
jority of the people, extending discounts to the few 
for Political effect and agrandisement, also Resolved 
that we believe the charter should be repealed, and a 
more equal and efficient sistem of Banking Intro- 
duced. 



122 WHIG CONVENTION 

The following delegates to meet at Springfield the 
2d Monday in December were then appointed 
Frederick R Dntcher 
Wm. P Burroughs 

Edward Southwick • 

Resolved, that the delegates be empower to fill 
vacancies should any occur in their number. 

Voted that the proceedings of this meeting be 
signed by the chairman an Secretary and published 
in the Chicago & Galena Democrat & State Register. 

Samuel Johnston, chairman 
Frederick R Dutcher, Secretary." 

Dutcher was the only Lee county delegate who attended 
the state convention. „ 





The Northivestern Gazette & Galena Advertiser says 
the AVhigs held a convention at Dixon May 8, 1840, and 
nominated Thomas Drummond of Galena, for manj" 
years judge of the United States courts, and Hiram W. 
Thornton of Millersburgh, Mercer county, a land agent 
and lawyer who had been a blacksmith, for members of 
the lower house of the legislature. In talking with me of 
this convention E. B. Washburn laid emphasis on the 
fact that Thornton was a blacksmith. These nominees 
were elected. 

The delegates attending from Lee county were Cyrus 
Chamberlain, Thomas McCabe, Oliver Everett, G. A. 
Martin, John Cutshaw, H. A. Coe, F. W. Coe, Joseph 
Crawford, J. B. Cutshaw, Jeremiah Murphy, James M. 
Santee, W. W. Johnson, John Moss and David AVelty. 

The Gazette, of a later day, gives this much of the vote : 

Van 

Drummond Thornton Campbell Valzah 

Dixon precinct 152 111 

Lee county 254 256 201 212 

Thompson Campbell, a Galena lawyer, afterwards Sec- 
retary of State, later a member of Congress, and Dr. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 123 

Van Valzah, one of the first of the Pennsylvanians to 
settle in Stephenson county, were the Democratic nomi- 
nees. 



In 1842 the vote in Lee county for governor was Ford, 
Democrat, 237; Duncan, Whig, 238; Hunter, Free Soil, 
7 ; for lieutenant governor, Moore, Democrat, 236 ; Hen- 
derson, Whig, 254; Collins, Free Soil, 7. 

In 1844 the vote in Lee comity was Polk, 315 ; Clay, 244 ; 

Birnev, 48. 



The Democrats of the Second Congressional district, 
comprising Cook, De Kalb, Du Page, Kane, Lee, Rock Is- 
land and Whiteside counties, held their convention in 
Dixon on the fifteenth of September, 1852, Col. John De- 
ment being the chairman. The delegates from Lee county 
were John Dement, John V. Eustace, Richard F. Adams, 
John Gilmore and Hiram Wood. The nominee was John 
Wentworth of Chicago, and he was elected, by a vote of 
7538 to 6437 for Cyrus Aldrich of Lee, the Whig and 2149 
for James H. Collins of Chicago the Abolition candidates. 
The vote in Lee county was Wentworth 508, Aldrich 565, 
Collins 55. 



AMBOY. 

From a private letter, written by one of her pioneer 
business men, the following is quoted to show some inci- 
dents in Amboy's beginning: 

Greenwich, Mass., Nov, 14th, 1854. 
Alfred E. Patten, 
Osceola, Iowa. 
I am writing you sitting in my chair with my port- 
folio in my lap, as I do not feel able to bend over a 
table. 

I will commence at the time we separated at Al- 
bany. I regret that you had promised to go to 
Clarke County, Iowa, for I thought you might do 
just as well in 111., l)ut to my doings. Chann 
and myself took horse and buggy the next day after 
you left, in search of a location for the business we 
talked of and to see the country, likewise we spent 
about one week in riding and of course saw a good 
deal of the country between Albany and Chicago. 
I think I am pretty well posted in the matter. The 
country a little back and north of Albany is quite 
rolling, though not quite so much as back of Albany 
where we went. I presume it would not have been as 
rolling if we had gone six or eight miles farther to 
the east. You may depend that the land back of Al- 
bany in that country to Sterling on Eock Elver w^ill 
be the best wheat lands at present of any in Northern 
Illinois, and still it i§ not one-tenth part broken or 
fenced as yet. I tell you the country is most beau- 
tiful from Albany to Sterling. I crossed it twice. 
Well, the first night we staid with Hyram Fish. He 
married Mr. Sprout 's daughter of our place you know. 
We had a special time of it you may depend. He 
lives at Gap Grove and has a little hit of a house, 
nice and cozy though old. You will recollect he is 
the man that must have a nice horse and buggj^ He 
built the cottage adjoining his father's house, but 
things are changed. He kicked up his heels in great 
glee at seeing me, offered such as he had, said that 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 125 

was good enough and would not put himself out a 
cents worth for us. Well he enjoys himself and no 
mistake. He lives on the main road from Dixon to 
Albany, Fulton City, etc. He has 80 acres I think 
of land. Bouglit it two years ago for 6 or 8 per acre, 
now worth $25. to $35. per acre. He lives in plain 
sight of A. Powers' place. W. Town staid with us 
at Fish's, He was just starting for Minnesota, bag 
and baggage. He wants to make a fortune in a day, 
but don't know how to do it, wants to do it without 
work. We started next morning for Dixon and so on 
down the Illinois Central R. R. After traveling some 
12 miles southeast of Dixon we ran unexpectedly on 
a place by the name of Amboy. When we first saw 
it, it struck my fancy, for we were on quite an eleva- 
tion and looked down upon it, it looked fine. We 
were on our way for Mendota 17 miles south at the 
junction of the Military Track and Illinois Central 
I told Chan. I would have a lot or so whether or not, 
before we got there (that is Amboy), and in great 
glee we decended a slope of one-half mile or so to 
the tavern and depot. The company have laid out 
a good deal of expense here already. The tavern 
which belongs to the company cost some twelve thou- 
sands. This was finished when I was there the last 
time and would be opened the next week. It is a 
fine affair. I went pretty much over it and into the 
observatory on the top of it. They have a large 
freight house done, likewise a very large round house 
capable of holding 23 engines at once with a very 
large turn-table in the center. The track work is 
done to this likewise but the top is not on. Their 
buildings when all done will cover several acres and 
all of brick. They calculate to employ some three 
hundred hands. It is said they intend to make this 
a kind of shifting station for engineers and engines. 
They will stop for meals also. There are other ex- 
pectations, though they may not be realized. The 
greatest is, that the County Seat will be removed 
from Dixon to Amboy. Dixon is in the edge of Lee 
County, only one town between it and the two other 
Counties, and Amboy is within one mile or so of the 
exact center. The Company has made some offers 



126 MENDOTA 

of lands already and the tug of war will soon come, 
and a tug it will be, as Dixon is quite a large place 
and plenty of money to spend in such business. But 
the middle and southern portion of the county is 
getting quite thickly settled and if true to them- 
selves, will out-vote the influence of Dixon. They 
had a trial two or three years ago to get it at a 
little place five miles from here called Lee Center 
but could not out-vote Dixon influence, but things 
are ditferent now. I bought the first day I was there 
one lot on Main Street about 12 or 15 rods from the 
Depot. I paid $175. for it, bought it second hand, 
could have taken $200. for it before I left, size of lot 
50 feet front 160 back. We went down to Mendota 
and staid a day. I say down for it is 300 feet lower 
than Amboy though on pretty much the same kind 
of land. Well it is one of the places we read of. One 
year ago there was, I think, not a house in the place, 
now I should think there was 150 of all shapes and 
sizes and three taverns. They were all. full and I 
saw that many slept in cars where the seats had been 
taken out. I saw a large tent full besides, but I 
think it must be an unhealthy place and awful muddy. 
Amboy will be muddy enough for that matter. 

The country around both places is much richer 
than Whiteside County, most too rich for wheat at 
"" present, though they raise good spring wheat. 
Around Dixon it is quite sandy and some of the soil 
poor. I think I would like a farm here but I do not 
know but it would come too high. Lands have been 
offered here or within 5 or 6 miles for $7 and $8 per 
acre with considerable improvements, but I don't 
suppose it will be my luck to find any such. Land 
will be high, very high, within say five years, at least 
$25 per acre. I did not ride around Amboy as I 
now wished I had. It lays like this, Binghamton 
quite a place one mile east on a branch of Green 
River. It has one flowering mill, school house and 
a little meeting house. Rockyford is one mile west. 
Lee Center 5 miles north and the old town of Amboy 
a few miles northwest. So you will see that the coun- 
try will soon be thickly settled and now is my time 
if ever here. Last time, there was in Amboy only two 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 127 

houses and two banis. This time most of the lots 
are probably sold. There was several little houses 
up when I was there, one blacksmith shop, three 
stores and lots ready to build as soon as the rail- 
road got in. It is in by this time. When we returned 
to Amboy we had the refusal of five more lots. For 
one fortnight I will stay here. We were very for- 
tunate in coming across a kind of cousin of yours 
and an own cousin of Chan's. Their names are Clark. 
Uncle Benj. married their aunt. One of them is boss 
of the carpenter work and we staid with him while 
there. Three churches have sites either purchased 
or given in the place. Now, whether all or half of 
the things take place is more than I can tell, though 
all looks well. I do not think it will make so much 
ditference in our business. It is first rate every 
where I went. In returning we staid one night with 
A. Powers and went over his farm. He has a good 
one, 600 acres, worth from $25 to $35 per acre, 
that's all. The night I was there it rained and when 
we started next morning the wind blew as no other- 
winds, but these western winds can blow. It was 
very cold likewise though it had been very warm pre- 
viously. We rode 40 miles that day and without eat- 
ing, "^^lien we got home we found ourselves pretty 
badly chilled. I was griped some before we got home. 
We ate supper and directly after I had an attack 
of cholic. * * * I started for home in just one week 
from the time I hadthecholicforl was very anxious 
about the lots at Amboy as we had not paid for them 
and we had concluded to go there. At first I thought 
it would cost so much for building lots that we could 
not go there, but after calculating I thought it best. 
Our business lots 160 front and 160 deep cost us 
$400, half down, the remainder in one year, and so 
with all of them. These lots lay directly on the 
railroad and a switch will come in front. The street 
is 100 feet wide besides. (Father has just stepped 
into my room with the news that Pelhem, Prescott, 
Belchertown, Enfield, You-All-Know-Nothings. In 
Greenwich K. N. 112, Whig 22, Dem. 8 I think F. S. 
5.) John Powers carried me to Amboy and I was 
just on time to save the lots. The next day I started 



128 DIFFERENCE IN MARKETS 

for home. I got detained twice by brake downs and 
in my weak state took cold and come home with fever 
which has completely prostrated me. I am as weak 
as a child as yet and I write you but a line or two 
at a time. I mean to sell at any rate if I can. If I 
cannot I shall hire a man I think and go out as soon 

as the boys get ready and stay through the season. 

****** 

I have any amount of questions I would like to ask 
you. You I should think by your letter, think that 
Iowa is the place for farming because the land is 
cheap and just as good as 111. though you did not 
say so. Now I grant that land is as good (doubtful) 
in Iowa and certainly cheaper than it is in 111. But 
now I would like to ask you some questions. What 
is corn worth as a general thing throughout the state ? 
What is oats worth and wheat, etc. Perhaps emi- 
gration just now makes a market there or at least 
helps it considerable but that will not last long. Now 
I find a difference between Albany market and Pow- 
ers market, fifteen cents on wheat per bushel and 
everything in proportion almost. The east is to be 
the great market for grains most certainly, and the 
more central, and certainly the nearest to market, will 
be the most valuable country. 

Now as to. going on to a farm not improved I can- 
not see much gain, especially to a man who has some 
means. If a man gets a farm in 111. with a little 
snug house and barn and say 160 acres of land with 
40 or 50 acres improved, he can break up the re- 
mainder when it suits his convenience and fence it at 
odd jobs. Fencing actually costs $1.00 per rod in 
my opinion eveiTthing counted. Iowa market may 
be good but it can never equal 111. in my opinion. 
Many have been out from 111. to Iowa and have come 
back satisfied that land is as high, and most say 
higher than in 111., w^ith not as good privileges. 1 
am inclined to think so myself. 

There are other things. Society in 111. is improv- 
ing rapidly and I will tell you now eastern people are 
coming in with means to buy and the wondering un- 
easy half civilized population are going west. This 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 129 

is a real fact, it is not imagination. There are many 
emigrants going from Ind. I do not know how many 
I asked in my travels where they were from and 
where going. The answer in every case but one was 
from Ind. Where bound *' To Iowa City." Further 
than that they did not know. The secret is the Yan- 
kees are coming in with money and have bought them 
out. The same thing is taking place in Illinois slowly. 
The poorest of emigration does not stop in Illinois 
much now. 

Now as far as your business as concerned, that is 
money-getting, I do not doubt that Iowa is the place, 
and if you can get the right place (and there are 
places enough) you can do better than farming no 
doubt, and I advise you to go into it, now is your 
time. Almost any where, one if rightly situated" can 
get rich with your means. I mean in the western 
country, 

I must close this long letter for I am pretty tired 
and I giiess you will be by the time you wade through 
it. Write me a good long letter and I will write as 
long a one in return. 

Yours, «&X}., 

R. H. Mellen. 



THE GENESIS OF LEE COUNTY. 

Claiming jurisdiction by right of conquest, Virginia, 
upon the fifth of October, 1778, passed "An Act for 
establishing the County of Illinois, and for the more ef- 
fectual protection and. defense thereof," which enacted 
"that all the citizens of this commonwealth who are 
already settled, or shall hereafter settle on the western 
side of the Ohio river, shall be included in a distinct 
county which shall be called Illinois County." 

When St. Clair county, our first county, was formed, 
April, 1790, by the proclamation of Arthur St. Clair, 
Governor of the Territory of the United States North- 
west of the River Ohio, it included all the country be- 
tween the Illinois, Mississippi and Ohio rivers and a line 
drawn from the Illinois at the mouth of the Little Macki- 
naw, a few miles below Pekin, to the Ohio at the mouth 
of a small stream a short distance above Fort Massac 
which stood at the eastern edge of Metropolis City. (St. 
Clair Papers.) 

Knox county, now entirely within Indiana, was estab- 
lished the twentieth of the following June and embraced, 
with parts of Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, all the terri- 
tory in our state east of St. Clair and the Illinois river 
to the confluence of the Kankakee and Des Plaines and 
a line due north from that point. (St. Clair Papers.) 

Randolph was created by proclamation October 5th, 
1795, and included all the territory south of a line drawn 
from the Mississippi through Cove Spring (near Water- 
loo) to the Knox county line; thence along Knox to the 
Ohio. (*S'^. Clair Papers.) 

On August 25, 1796, Governor St. Clair created the 
Wayne county that is now wholly within Ohio, giving 
it, with other territory, all of Illinois north and east of a 
line running from Fort Wayne, Indiana, "westnortherly 
to the most southern part of Lake Michigan ; thence along 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 131 

the western shore of the same to the northwest part 
thereof (induding the lands upon the streams emptying 
into said lake) ; thence by a due north line to the terri- 
torial boundary in Lake Superior." (Douglass' History 
of Wayne County, Ohio.) 

On the third of February, 1801, Governor William H. 
Harrison of Indiana Territory fixed Randolph's bound- 
aries by a line beginning "on the Ohio river at a place 
called the Great Cave, below the Saline Lick; thence by 
a direct north line until it intersects an east and west 
line running from the Mississippi through the Sink Hole 
Spring ; thence along said line to the Mississippi ; thence 
down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ohio, and up 
the Ohio to the place of beginning." (hid. His. Soc. Pub. 
3, p. 98.) The Great Cave is in Hardin county, and is 
now known as Cave-in-Rock. The Sink Hole Spring was 
nearly on the present Randolph-St. Clair line. (Beck- 
with, History of Vermilion County.) 

January 2-4, 1803, Governor Harrison, by proclama- 
tion, created the Wavne countv that is now whollv within 
Michigan, and placed in it all that part of Illinois north 
and east of lines drawn "through the southerly extreme" 
and "the most westerly .bend of" Lake Michigan, (hid. 
His. Soc. Pub. vol. 3, p. 115.) 

On March 25, 1803, he fixed the line between Randolph 
and St. Clair at one drawn from the Mississippi "four 
miles and thirty-two chains south of the point where the 
present division line intersects the Mississippi bottom; 
thence by a direct line to the Sink Hole Springs ; thence 
by a line north, sixty degrees east, until it intersects a 
north line running from the Great Cave on the Ohio." 
This order, however, Avas not to be effective until the 
first of the following May. (Ind. His. Soc. Pub. 3, p. 118.) 

This line was adopted and confirmed by an order of 
Nathaniel Pope, Secretary and Acting Governor of lUi- 



132 EDWARDS COUNTY 

nois Territory, April 28, 1809. (111. St. His. Library Pub. 
3, pp. 3, 4.) 

On the 14tli of September, 1812, Governor Ninian 
Edwards of Illinois Territory issued a proclamation cre- 
ating three new counties, Madison, Gallatin and Johnson. 
Madison was given all the territory north of the "second 
township line above Cahokia," its present south line and 
its extension east to Indiana. 

The first county formed by legislation in the Territory 
of Illinois is Edwards, and it was created by ''An Act 
for the division of Gallatin county," passed November 
28, 1814, which provides "that all that tract of land 
within the following boundaries (to wit) beginning at the 
mouth of the Bompas creek on the Big Wabash and run- 
ning thence due west to the meridian line which runs 
due north from the mouth of the Ohio river ; thence with 
said meridian line and due north 'till it strikes the line 
of Upper Canada ; thence with the line of Upper Canada 
to the line that separates this territory from the Indiana 
Territory; and thence with the said dividing line to the 
beginning shall constitute a separate county to be called 
Edwards." The south line of Edwards has been short- 
ened, but not changed otherwise. 

The "Act for the division of Ed\vards county," in 
force December 31, 1816, created Crawford and gave it 
that part of Edwards north of a line beginning at the 
mouth of Embarrass river, and running with said river 
to the intersection of the line dividing townships three 
and four north, range eleven west of the second principal 
meridian; thence west with the township line to the 
meridian. 

The "Act forming a new county out of the county of 
Madison," approved January 4, 1817, created Bond and 
gave it the territory north of the St. Clair-Madison line 
extended to the third principal meridian that is west of 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 133 

the meridian and east of the Mason-Logan line extended 
from Wisconsin to the southeast corner of Madison. 

That part of Crawford lying north of tlie line dividing 
townships eight and nine north was cut off by the "Act 
forming a new county out of the county of Crawford," 
approved March 22, 1819, and formed into the county of 
Clark. 

The "Act establishing the County of Greene," ap- 
proved January 20, 1821, gave that county the country 
in the present Greene and Jersey, and attached to it the 
territory within a line running from the southwest corner 
of the present Macoupin to the southeast corner of 
Macoupin; thence north to the northeast corner of that 
county ; thence west twelve miles ; thence along the prairie 
between the waters of the Mauvaise Terre and the San- 
gamon to the head of Balance creek, and down that creek 
and the Illinois to Greene and along its northern and 
eastern boundaries to the place of beginning. 

The "Act establishing the County of Sangamon," ap- 
proved January 30, 1821, gave that county the territory 
north of township twelve, north, bounded by the Illinois, 
the third principal meridian and Greene 's attached terri- 
tory. 

The greater part of the territory south of a line from 
the Mississippi at the southwest corner of Rock Island 
County east on the north line of township fifteen, fourth 
principal meridian, to the Illinois river, near DePue, was 
set aside for entry under land warrants given to the 
veterans of our wars, and this circumstance fastened upon 
it the name of the "Military Tract," or "Bounty Land," 
which it still bears. 

The "Act to form a new county on the bounty lands," 
approved January 31, 1821, created Pike and gave it a 
boundary line beginning at the mouth of the Illinois river 
and running thence up tliat river to its forks ; and thence 
up the south fork to the Indiana line; along that to the 



134 FAYETTE COUNTY 

northern boundary of our state, and on that to the west 
line of the state; and thence down that line to the place 
of beginning. 

"An act forming a new county out of the parts of 
counties therein contained," approved February 14, 1821, 
created Fayette and gave it all of the state north of 
township two, north, in range one, west, and ranges one, 
two, three, four, five and six east of the third principal 
meridian. This gave Fayette the area north of the 
Madison-St. Glair line extended that is east of the Bond- 
Fayette line extended and west of the Shelby-Coles line 
extended. 

Beck's Gazetteer of Illinois and Missouri (1821) com- 
ments on the fact that by the terms of this statute Fay- 
ette bisects Pike, but concluding that this was an error, 
shows Pike as a whole, extending entirely across the 
state. 

In his article on th6 "Counties of Illinois," in the 
Illinois Blue Book for 1905, Stephen L. Spear contends 
that Fayette did not extend north of the Illinois river, 
and that its west line north of township twelve, was the 
meridian, and his map supports his contention. His 
argument is that if this were not so, then Fayette would 
bisect Pike and take range one, west, north of township 
twelve, from Sangamon, where it had been placed a short 
time before, and this could not have been intended. 

The answer is, that the statute is a valid expression of 
the will of the legislature; it is clear and precise in its 
language and as it merely expresses what the legislature 
could and might have intended, Fayette must be consid- 
ered as extending, its entire width, through Pike to the 
state line. There are other instances in which our coun- 
ties were composed of disconnected tracts, but that did 
irot invalidate the statutes creating such conditions. 

The "Act defining the boundaries of Pike county, and 
for other purposes," approved December 30, 1822, pro- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 135 

vides that the county shall be bounded as follows : On 
the north by the base line; on the east by the Illinois 
river ; and on the west by the Mississippi and all the rest 
and remainder of the territory composing the county of 
Pike, before the passing of this act, shall be attached to 
and form a part of said county until otherwise disposed 
of by the General Assembly. 

Edgar was created by the ''Act forming a new county 
out of part of Clark," approved January 3, 1823, with 
its present boundary line, and there was attached to it 
all the country west of it that was not attached to any 
other county (and there was none so attached until Fay- 
ette was reached), and all the territory north of it "to 
Lake Michigan." 

The first section of the "Act forming a new county out 
of the attached portion of the county of Pike," approved 
Januar}^ 28, 1823, reads thus: "The territory within the 
following bounds, beginning at the point where the fourth 
principal meridian intersects the Illinois river; thence 
up the middle of said river to where the line between 
ranges five and six east strikes the said river; thence 
north with the range line to the line between townships 
nine and ten north ; thence west with the said line to the 
said fourth principal meridian; thence south with said 
line to the place of beginning, shall constitute a separate 
county to be called Fulton." The Act attached to Fulton 
all of Pike lying north and east of the new county. 

The "Act forming new counties out of Pike and Ful- 
ton, and the attached parts thereof," approved January 
13, 1825, created Schuyler, Adams, Hancock, Warren, 
Mercer, Henry, Putnam and Knox. Mercer was given all 
that part of the state north of the present south line of 
that county. Knox was given its present area, except the 
north tier of towns which was i)ut in Henry with all the 
country north of that tier. Hancock and Adams were 
given their present areas. Warren had its present area 



136 LUDLOW COUNTY 

and all of Henderson. Schuyler took its present area 
with that of Brown. The territory now forming Mc- 
Donough was overlooked and not put in any county, but 
in the next year it was formed into McDonough. 

Putnam was given the country north of the present 
Peoria and north of the Illinois and Kankakee rivers, 
and this included Lee. 

The "Act to form a new county in the vicinity of Fort 
Clark," approved January 13, 1825, created Peoria with 
the territory it has today, except for a slight change in 
the west line that was made necessary by errors in the 
original surveys. This act attached to Peoria a large 
area east of the Illinois river, and all the country north of 
the new Peoria and north of the Illinois and Kankakee 
rivers, thus attaching Putnam to Peoria. 

The House of the Fifth General Assembly, January 
15, 1827, on motion of Jonathan H. Pugh of Sanga- 
mon, adopted a resolution for the appointment of a 
committee to inquire into and report upon the expediency 
of establishing a new county on Fever river, and made 
Pugh, Alfred W. Cavarly of Greene, Henry J. Ross of 
Pike, David Prickett of Madison and Charles Ives of 
Clark the members of that committee. They reported 
a bill for "An Act establishing Ludlow county." After 
the first reading the bill was amended in committee of 
the whole and sent to a select committee composed of 
Pugh, Henry I. Mills of Edwards and John C. Alexander 
of Crawford who reported it, with some amendments, 
whereupon it was sent to a committee consisting of Pugh, 
Cavarly and John Leeper of Morgan, who reported it 
with amendments, some of which were adopted, while 
others were rejected. After defeating the motion of John 
Reynolds of St. Clair that the bill be laid on the table 
"until the fourth of July next," the bill was sent back to 
the last committee. It was again reported with amend- 
ments, some of which were lost and some adopted. Upon 
motion of Cavarlv, Februarv 8, the bill was laid on the 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 137 

table ''until tlie fourth of July next." The difficulties 
encountered seem to have grown out of the provisions for 
holding the circuit court and the payment of the judge's 
salary. The bill still remains on file, endorsed "An Act 
establishing LudloAv county." The boundary line pro- 
posed began at the northwest corner of the state, ran east 
on the northern line of the state to the northwest corner 
of the township in range ten, east of the fourth principal 
meridian, thence south (on the Stephenson-Winnebago 
line and its extension) to the north line of the military 
tract, thence west to the Mississippi and up that river 
to the place of beginning. 

A few days later, on motion of John Eeynolds, the 
House took from the tal)le a bill entitled "An Act estab- 
lishing Jo Daviess county," though w^e find no mention 
in the journal of such a bill until this occurrence, and sent 
it to a committee composed of Reynolds, Charles Slade of 
Washington and Francis Prince of Gallatin, w^ho reported 
the bill with amendments that were adopted. It was read 
the third time and sent to another committee, — Prince, 
Conrad Will of Jackson, and John Reynolds, who re- 
ported it with amendments that were adopted and the bill 
passed, the title being "An Act establishing Jo Daviess 
county." It was approved February 17, 1827, and gave 
the new county a boundary beginning at the northwest 
corner of the State, running thence down the Mississippi 
to the northern line of the military tract, thence east on 
that line to the Illinois, thence north to the northern 
boundary of the state, thence west to the place of begin- 
ning. In those days many bills went without any title 
until the final reading, except that noted by the clerk in 
making up the journal, and he changed that at his pleas- 
ure, so it is quite probable that the bill Reynolds called 
up from the table was the Ludlow l)ill as amended. A plat 
accompanying the Report of the General Land Office, 
1835-6, makes the north line of the Military Tract touch 



138 PINCKNEY COUNTY 

the Illinois in range ten, east, a little west of the present 
DePue. 

In the sixth General Assembly, 1828-1829, Peter Cart- 
wright of Sangamon introduced in the House a bill with- 
out a title, but to which the clerk has given the title of 
' ' An Act forming the Counties of Chicago, Pinckney and 
Brown." After the second reading the bill Avas sent to 
the committee of the whole, amended, and then laid upon 
the table on motion of Jonathan H. Pugh of Sangamon, 
and there it is today. 

Section one of the bill would have created a county with 
a boundary line beginning at the northeast corner of 
township thirty-five north, range four (4), east of the 
third principal meridian (a point six miles south of the 
north line, and six miles west of the east line of the 
present La Salle county); thence "easterly" (an error; 
it should be westerly) along "the north line of the sur- 
veys to the northwest corner of fractional township 
eighteen (18) north, range ten (10), east of the fourth 
principal meridian" (southwest corner of the town of 
May) ; thence south on the line between ranges nine and 
ten (the Stephenson- Winnebago line extended) to the 
southwest corner of "fractional township" thirteen (13) 
north, range ten (10) "west aforesaid"; thence east to 
the main channel of the Illinois river and down the river 
to the "southwest angle" of fractional township twenty- 
eight (28) north, range four (4) west of the third prin- 
cipal meridian ; thence east on the line between town- 
ships twenty-seven (27) and twenty-eight (28) (a line six 
miles south of the north line of Woodford) to the south- 
east corner of township twenty-eight (28) north, range 
four (4) east of the third principal meridian ; thence north 
on the line between ranges four (4) and live (5) to the 
place of beginning. The name given is Pinckney. It 
would have included Bureau, Putnam, Marshall, the 
greater part of La Salle, with some of Livingston and 
Woodford. 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 139 

Section two of this Act provided for a county to be 
called Brown, and gave it the country bounded on the 
north by an extension of the north line of La Salle, on the 
west by an extension of the east line of Boone, on the 
south by an extension of the north line of Woodford, and 
on the east by a line six miles east of an extension of the 
east line of Kane. 

Section three would have created Chicago with a bound- 
ary line beginning on the eastern boundary line of the 
State at a point in Lake Michigan opposite the line be- 
tween townships forty-one and forty-two north, range 
fourteen east of the third principal meridian (near Wil- 
mette), and running thence west (on a line six miles south 
of Lake county) to the northwest corner of township 
forty-one north, range ten east; thence south (on a line 
six miles east of Kane county) to the northwest corner 
of township thirty-seven north, range ten east; thence 
east (six miles) to the northwest corner of township 
thirty-seven north, range eleven east; thence south (six 
miles) to the southwest corner of township thirty-five 
north, range eleven east ; thence east to the eastern bound- 
ary of the State, and along that line to the place of be- 
ginning. 

The fourth section of the bill provided that for election 
and other county purposes all the country lying north of 
the counties of Chicago, Pinckney and Brown, to the north 
line of the State, and as far west as the third principal 
meridian, and the country lying south of these counties 
so as to include township twenty-eight (28) north, "which 
is not included in the boundaries of any other county, 
shall be and the same is hereby attached to the County 
of Chicago." 

The proposed Chicago would have included the east 
two-thirds of DuPage, all of Cook, except the north tier 
of townships and two townships off the north end of the 
extreme west tier, and a small part of Will. 

The attached territorv included the rest of DuPage and 



140 COLUMBIA COUNTY 

Cook, all of Lake, McHenrj', Boone, Kane, nearly all of 
DeKalb, part of Winnebago, Ogle, Lee, and LaSalle. 

During this session John Eeynolds of St. Clair for 
the committee on the revision of the statutes, on Decem- 
ber 1, 1828, introduced in the House a bill for ''An Act 
ascertaining and defining the l)oundaries of the several 
counties in this state, and designating the seats of justice 
therein respectively." It was laid on the table after the 
first reading. The real purpose of the bill seems to have 
been to create Macon county. The boundary line pro- 
posed for Putnam by this bill would have given that 
county the territory west of the Illinois to the Knox- 
Peoria line extended that is between the north line of 
Peoria and the south line of Rock Island extended. It 
made no disposition of that part of Putnam lying east of 
Jo Daviess and did not change the lines of the latter. 

During the first session of the Seventh General Assem- 
bly, 1830-1831, there was presented to the House a peti- 
tion from Jo Daviess, Putnam and the attached parts of 
Tazewell and Peoria counties, asking the formation of a 
new^ county. Then Joel AVright, of the Pike, Adams, Ful- 
ton, Schuyler, Peoria and Jo Daviess district, presented 
a petition from the inhabitants in the neighborhood of 
"Chicago, in the County of Peoria," praying for a new 
county. On motion of John F. Posey, of the Fayette, 
Bond, Tazewell, Montgomery and Shelby district, it was 
resolved that a select committee be appointed to lay off 
all the country on the other side of the Illinois river from 
Peoria county to Chicago into counties, and to report by 
liill. The committee was composed of Posey, Wright and 
Jonathan H. Pugh of Sangamon. To the same committee 
was sent, on motion of Posey, after its second reading, a 
bill introduced by Jacob Ogle, of St. Clair, for the com- 
mittee on petitions upon the petition first mentioned, for 
an "Act to create and organize the County of Columbia." 
This select committee reported a bill for "An Act to 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 141 

create and organize the counties therein named" which 
passed the House. It was amended in the Senate, the 
House concurrini^, and became a law January 15, 1831. 
Tt created Cook and LaSalle (with its north boundary as 
at present), changed the boundaries of Putnam and added 
some territory to Henry. By the third section of this 
Act it is provided that Putnam shall comprise the terri- 
tory Avithin the following boundaries: — beginning at the 
southw^est corner of township twelve north, range six east 
of the fourth principal meridian (on the Stark-Peoria 
line) ; thence east to the Illinois ; thence down the middle 
of the river to the south line of township twenty-nine 
north, west of the third principal meridian (Woodford- 
Marshall Line) ; thence east to the third principal me- 
ridian, and north with it forty- two miles (near Mendota) ; 
thence w^est to (northwest corner of Bureau) a point six 
miles due north of the northwest corner of township 
seventeen, range six east of the fourth principal meridian ; 
thence south to the starting point. Some provisions of 
the act are peculiar. It makes "the northern boundary 
line of the State" the north line of Cook, and then at- 
taches to that county the territory ''north of Cook County 
and parallel with the lines of the same as far north- 
wardly as Eock Eiver," the west line of Cook being the 
line between ranges eight and nine east of the third prin- 
cipal meridian (the Kane-DuPage line) and that river 
not being so far east as that in this State. The Act adds 
to Henry townships twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, 
sixteen, seventeen and eighteen, range five, while another 
act approved that day (An Act to establish the permanent 
seat of justice for Knox county) so described Henry's 
boundaries that they exclude townships twelve and thir- 
teen (placing them in Knox) and the north line is Rock 
riv.er, between the fourth principal meridian and the east 
line of range five. 

The territory in range eleven (the towns of Sublette, 
Lee Centre, Bradford, Ashton in Lee county, Lafayette, 



142 LA SALLE COUNTY 

Pine Rock, Marion, tlie east two third of Byron in Ogle; 
Winnebago, Burritt, Harrison, and the greater part of 
Shirland in AVinnebago) north of the new Putnam was 
not put in any county or attached to any. The north line 
of the new Putnam, as fixed by this Act, is a diagonal one. 
A due west line from the third principal meridian forty- 
two miles north of the south line of township twenty-nine, 
on that meridian, will not go to a point ''six miles due 
north of the northwest corner of township seventeen" 
north, range six east of the fourth principal meridian, 
though the legislators may have thought it will. ( This 
error was corrected in 1839 after Bureau was formed.) 

LaSalle was given the territory bounded by a line be- 
ginning at the southwest corner of the new Cook — the 
southwest corner of township thirty-four, north, range 
nine east of the third principal meridian (Shermanville) ; 
running thence south thirty miles; thence west to the 
meridian and north along it forty-eight miles (to the 
northwest corner of La Salle) ; thence east (on the La 
Salle-Lee and LaSalle-DeKalb line) to Cook (the Ken- 
dall-Will line) ; thence south to the place of beginning. 
The act attached to LaSalle all that part of the state lying 
north of it. The attached territory included the two 
ranges of townships at the east end of Lee. 

This statute failed to make any disposition of that part 
of the old Putnam lying nortli of the Kankakee, south 
of the new Cook (the south line of township thirty-four), 
and east of LaSalle. By the ''Act to establish the county 
of Will." approved January 12, 1836, this became part 
of Will. 

The bill for the ' ' Act to create and organize the county 
of Columbia" proposed the following boundary, — begin- 
ning at the southeast corner of township twenty-nine, 
north, range four, east of the third principal meridian, 
thence north (on the Boone-McHenry line extended) to 
the north line of township thirty-six, thence west to the 
meridian (on the LaSalle-DeKalb line) and through the 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 143 

center of township nineteen in the ranges east of the 
fourth principal meridian to the line between ranges nine 
and ten east of that meridian (through the towns of 
Sublette and jMay to the east line of East Grove in Lee 
county) thence south (on an extension of the east line 
of Stephenson) to and down the Illinois to the south- 
west corner of township twenty-nine, north, west of the 
third principal meridian (the Woodford-Marshall line) 
thence east to the place of beginning. 

The bill is endorsed, An Act to organize the county of 
Columbia. 

The ''Act to establish Rock Island County," approved 
February 9, 1831, gave that county its present area. 

In the Galenian of September 29, 1835, Samuel Allen 
and Edmund A. Philleo gave notice, dated September 22. 
1835, that application would be made to the legislature to 
strike off all that part of Rock Island county that lies 
east and south of Rock river, and to extend Rock Island 
county from its then north line to the mouth of Johnson's 
creek, thence east to the line between ranges five and six 
east of the fourth principal meridian, thence south to 
Rock River, thence down the main channel of that river 
to its mouth. 

Johnson's creek runs into Otter creek, which flows into 
the Mississippi about two and one-half miles above 
Fulton. 

In the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser of 
October 15, 1836, is an unsigned notice reading thus 
— "To the inhabitants of Rock Island, Henry and White- 
side counties. Notice is hereby given to the legal voters 
of the aforesaid counties that a jjetition will be pre- 
sented to the General Assembly of this State (Illinois) 
at their next session, for an alteration of the present 
boundary lines of said county, and also for a change of 
the county seat of Rock Island county. Rock Island 
County, October 3, 1836." 

In the Gazette and Advertiser of December 3, 1836, 



144 THE DIXON AND BOWEN PROJECT 

"Conclusion," writing from Rock Island county, Novem- 
ber nineteenth, says lie understands the proposal is to 
attach all of Rock Island south of Rock river to Mercer 
and to extend the northern boundary to include Mere- 
dosia and Cat Tail swamps, the head of the rapids to be 
the county seat, that the proposal is by a man who did not 
get elected recorder after the county seat Avas located at 
Stephenson. The writer calls attention to the great popu- 
lation the new county will have — if the mosquitos are 
counted. 

In the Northwestern Gazetteer S Galena Advertiser of 
October 24, 1835, and other days after that, appeared 
this : 

"Notice is hereby given that application will be made 
at the next session of the Legislature of the State of Illi- 
nois to establish and organize three new counties to be 
embraced within the limits of Jo Daviess, and bounded as 
follows : 

1st:, Beginning at a point on the Mississippi between 
townships twenty-five and twenty-six and range two east 
of the fourth principal meridian ; thence running due east 
to the line between ranges six and seven east of the fourth 
principal meridian; thence south to the southern boun- 
dary of township twenty-five ; thence due west to the line 
between ranges five and six east of said meridian ; thence 
south to the center of Rock River ; thence down the main 
channel of said stream to the N. E. corner of Rock Island 
County ; thence along the center of the Meridosia, or the 
northern boundary of said county, to the Mississippi; 
thence up the main channel of the same to the place of 
beginning. 

2nd : Also beginning at the corner of townships twenty- 
four and twenty-four and twenty-five and twenty-five 
north of ranges five and six east of the fourth principal 
meridian; thence east to the third principal meridian; 
thence south with the third principal meridian to the N. 
E. corner of Putnam County ; thence west along the north- 



EARLY LEE COUNTY H5 

orn boundary of said county to the northwest corner 
thereof; thence north between ranges four and five to 
Rock River; thence up the main channel of Rock River 
to the range line between ranges five and six ; thence north 
with said range line to the place of beginning. 

3rd : Also leaving all that part of the aforesaid County 
of Jo Daviess with so much of that portion attached to 
the County of LaSalle as the Legislature in their wisdom 
shall see fit to award lying north of the last above de- 
scribed county and east of range seven of the fourth prin- 
cipal meridian to constitute the third new county. 

October 24, 1835. 

John Dixon, 
Luther H. Bowen." 

Luther H. Bowen was one of the surveyors who located 
the Illinois- Wisconsin line in 1832. Li 1835 he bought a 
claim to the land on which Savanna stands, and in the 
next year platted that town, conducting a store there from 
that time until his death, May 5, 1876. He was one of the 
first three county commissioners of Carroll county. (Kett, 
History of Carroll County.) 

This notice appears to assume that the west line of 
Putnam was the line between ranges four and five, east 
of the fourth principal meridian, while it, in fact, was the 
line between ranges five and six. The consequence of 
this error is that the boimdaries proposed for the second 
county would not connect. 

It is somewhat singular that Bowen, who must have 
been acquainted with the township lines, and who un- 
doubtedly sought to create a county of which his town 
would be the capital, jjlaced the north line of the first 
county at the line between townships twenty-five and 
twenty-six, barely seven miles north of Savanna. 

A petition praying for the passage of a statute creating 
counties as outlined by this notice, was duly presented to 
the General Assembly. With otlier petitions asking the 
formation of other counties this led to the passage of 



146 OGLE COUNTY 

the "Act to establish certain counties," approved Janu- 
ary 16, 1836, which created McHenry, Winnebago, Kane, 
Whiteside and Ogle, and recast the boundaries of Jo 
Daviess. 

AVhiteside was given its present area, but it was to re- 
main a part of Jo Daviess until Ogle was organized and 
then to be attached to that county until its own organiza- 
tion. This boundary has not been changed. 

Ogle was given the territory bounded by a line running 
from the southeast corner of Whiteside, north to the 
southwest corner of township twenty-six; thence east (on 
its present north line) to the third principal meridian; 
thence south on that meridian to the southwest corner of 
township forty-three, north, range one, east of that me- 
ridian; thence east (on AVinnebago-Ogle line) to range 
three; thence south on the west line of that range (the 
DeKalb-Ogle and DeKalb-Lee line) to the southwest cor- 
ner of township thirty-seven, range three (southwest cor- 
ner of DeKalb) ; thence west to the meridian (at north- 
west corner of LaSalle) ; thence south Avith the meridian 
to the southeast corner of township nineteen, range eleven 
east of the fourth principal meridian (northeast corner 
of Bureau) ; thence west (on the Lee-Bureau line) to the 
place of beginning. 

There was left unmentioned and unrecognized a tri- 
angular strip in township eighteen, ranges six, seven, 
eight, nine, ten and eleven east of the fourth principal 
meridian, south of Ogle and AVhiteside, and north of 
Putnam, but by this Act completely cut off from Jo 
Daviess. (It was afterwards placed in Bureau. The 
present towns of Eagle Point, Brookville and the west 
half of Forreston were added to Ogle afterwards.) 

The Act creating Ogle provided that the county seat 
should be located by James L. Kirkpatrick of Jo Daviess, 
Charles Reed and James B. Campbell of Cook. The lo- 
cation was made by Reed and Kirkpatrick June 20, 1836, 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 147 

and displeased many of those living in the western part 
of the county. 

In the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser of 
September 3, 10, 17 and 24, 1836, the following appeared : 

* ' Notice. A petition will be presented to the Legis- 
lature, at their next session, praying that Towns 19, 
20, 21, 22, 23 and 24 of Ranges six and 7 east of the 
4th Principal Meridian, be attached to and form a 
part of Ogle County, and that disinterested Commis- 
sioners be appointed to locate the county seat for 
said county and that the name of said county be 
changed from Ogle to that of Carroll. 

John Brookie, 
I. Chambers. 
August 29, 1836." 

Brookie and Isaac Chambers settled in or near Buffalo 
Grove in 1829. (Kett, Ogle County.) They had two ob- 
jections to the original west line of Ogle, — it cut the Buf- 
falo Grove settlement in two, and they were put under 
the domination of John Phelps of Oregon. Had their 
scheme been successful a little more than one third of 
Whiteside, taken off the east end, and almost one half of 
the present Carroll, also taken off the east end, would 
have been added to Ogle. 

Bowen allied himself with William Kirkpatrick, who, 
with William Baker, W. T. Gilbraith and Smith Gilbraith, 
held a claim to the land on which Freeport stands, and 
they gave notice, dated October 14, in the Northw^estern 
Gazette and Galena Advertiser of October 15, 1836, that 
a petition would be presented to the legislature praying 
the formation of two counties, 1 — beginning on the state 
line between ranges five and six, east, thence to the line 
between ranges nine and ten; thence south to the south 
boundary of township twenty-six ; thence west to the line 
between ranges five and six ; thence north to the place of 

beginning, "by the name of " 2 — beginning on 

the Mississippi , between townships twenty-four and 
twenty-five; thence east to the line between ranges five 



148 FORSYTHE COUNTY 

and six; thence south to the south boundary of to^vnship 
twenty-one ; thence west to the Mississippi, thence up the 
main channel of the Mississippi to the place of beginning 
** forming the county of Forsythe." 

The county first proposed would have included all of 
our Stephenson, except the tier of half towns on the west 
end. Forsythe would have had parts of the present Car- 
roll and Whiteside. 

These petitions, with others, led to the passage of the 
**Act to create certain counties therein named," ap- 
proved March 4, 1837, by which Stephenson, Boone and 
DeKalb were formed. Bowen failed in this effort also. 

The fourth section of the original bill for this act, in 
describing the boundary line of DeKalb (there called 
Benton), started it at the southwest corner of township 
thirty-seven, range two, east, putting that range in that 
county. By amendment the starting point was put at the 
southeast corner of that township, where it is today. 
There is nothing left on record to show when, where or 
by whose efforts this amendment was made. 

Wednesda}^ January 11, 1837, A. G. S. Wight, member 
for the Jo Daviess, Rock Island and Mercer counties dis- 
trict in the Senate of the Tenth General Assembly, pre- 
sented the petition of many citizens of Ogle, Jo Daviess 
and Whiteside counties praying an addition to Ogle 
county, which was, on his motion, referred to a select 
committee of five, consisting of Wight, Orville H. Brown- 
ing, William J. Gatewood of Gallatin, William Thomas of 
Morgan and John D. Whiteside of Monroe. 

The Vandalia correspondent (evidently Senator Wight) 
of the Northicesfern Gazette and Galena Advertiser, un- 
der date of January 2, 1837, in the issue of January 15, 
1837, says — "I introduced the petition of the citizens of 
Ogle county praying the alteration of their boundary and 
that commissioners be appointed to permanently locate 
the seat of justice, notwithstanding the great injustice 
done them by former legislation as regards both, yet I am 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 149 

doubtful of success, because men of influence are con- 
nected in the speculation." 

January 13, Thomas presented petitions and remon- 
strances from Ogle and Whiteside respecting the pro- 
posed change in their dividing line, and these were sent 
to the same committee. On the nineteenth Thomas intro- 
duced the petition of sundry citizens praying for a di- 
vision of Ogle, and upon his motion, it was referred to 
the same select committee, to which other petitions on 
the same subject were referred. 

On the twenty-first Wight moved the adoption of the 
following: Resolved, that the select commitee to whom 
was referred the petition of sundry citizens of Ogle 
county, praying an alteration of boundary lines and the 
re-location of the seat of justice of said county, together 
with the remonstrances to the same be authorized to ex- 
amine persons interested in relation thereto, under oath. 
This was adopted on motion of Thomas. 

On the twenty-sixth Wight, for the committee, reported 
that "they had had same under consideration and beg 
leave to report that the first part of their duty appears to 
be to ascertain that the petitioners had given the legal 
notice in such cases ; when satisfied upon this subject they 
proceeded to examine the respective petitions and re- 
monstrances with a great deal of minuteness and accur- 
acy, which enabled them to arrive at the following: 

"The whole number of the citizens of Ogle Coun- 
ty who had signed one or the other appears to be four 
hundred and eleven, two hundred and thirty-six of 
whom have signed the petition, and one hundred and 
seventy-five the remonstrances. The petition and 
remonstrances from Whiteside being equal in point 
of numbers, but from information to be relied on, 
from citizens residing in that section of the coun- 
try (now in Vandalia), who appeared before the com- 
mittee, which information is corroborated by the rep- 
resentation from that district, it appears that while 
those whose names are found on the petition were 
identified, with but one exception, as being bona fide 



150 ALTERING OGLE COUNTY 

residents of that part of the county prayed to be at- 
tached, but three names on the remonstrance could 
be identified as living in "Wliiteside County, and they 
quite remote from the territory in question, the 
greater part of the balance being identified as citi- 
zens of Galena and Wisconsin territory. The com- 
mittee will further state that the principal petition, 
which the former Senator from that district pre- 
sented to the Senate for the formation of a county 
on the Rock river asked for the same boundaries 
which are now proposed and asked for by the peti- 
tion, as appears manifest from the original bill as 
first introduced, creating the county, by the standing 
committee on petitions. These facts in connection 
with the circumstance that the present boundary in 
question cuts in two one of the oldest and decidedly 
the most populous and dense settlements in that sec- 
tion of the country, give the petitioners strong claims 
to legislative interference. As regards the re-loca- 
tion of the Seat of Justice your committee will state 
that independent of the 'circumstancial' evidence 
that the location was made more with an eye to pro- 
mote the schemes of certain speculators than the in- 
terests of the citizens of said county upon which the 
committee, however, do not wish to be understood to 
give an opinion, that the present location is objec- 
tionable on account of its remoteness from the cen- 
ter, being thirty miles from the south boundary, and 
but twelve miles from the north boundary, twenty- 
three miles from its east boundary, and fifteen from 
its west boundary, and as your committee are fur- 
ther satisfied that great discontent, indeed to an 
alarming degree, prevails throughout said county 
upon this subject, we therefore report a bill entitled 
'An Act for altering the boundaries of Ogle County 
and other purposes.' " 

In the form in which it was reported to the Senate the 
first section of this bill provided that all that part of Jo 
Daviess south of Ogle, east of the third principal merid- 
ian, and north of Putnam (evidently meaning part of this 
diagonal strip), and the east half of townships number 
twenty-one and twenty-two (in Whiteside), and all of 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 151 

townships number twenty-three, twenty-four and twenty- 
five, in range seven (then in Jo Daviess) should be made 
part of Ogle, and that township twenty-three in ranges 
four, five and six, and fractional township twenty-three, 
in range three (now the south tier of towns in Carroll) 
should be placed in Whiteside. It would have put Shan- 
non, Milledgeville and about one-half of Sterling and 
Rock Falls in Ogle. The second section provided for 
the division of Ogle, as thus constituted, into nine elec- 
tion districts ; the election of a commissioner in each dis- 
trict, and the location of the county seat by those com- 
missioners. 

After its second reading the bill was referred to a se- 
lect committee composed of Wight, George W. P. Max- 
well of Schuyler, and William O'Rear of Morgan. Janu- 
ary 28 Maxwell reported the bill with amendments (none 
of which can be found now), and on his motion they were 
indefinitely postponed, but, three days later, on motion of 
Levin Lane of Hamilton, a reconsideration was had, and 
on motion of Wight the proposed amendments were 
amended by striking out all after the enacting clause and 
inserting : 

^'That all that part of Jo Daviess County lying 
south of Ogle County is hereby attached to and made 
a part of Ogle County, and that for the more perma- 
nent and satisfactory location of the seat of justice 
of said Ogle County, the county commissioners there- 
of are hereby required to order an election to be held 
in the several precincts of said county to elect five 
commissioners, which election shall be conducted and 
the returns thereof made, in the same manner that 
other county elections are. Said commissioners, or 
a majority thereof, when thus elected and sworn be- 
fore a Justice of the Peace to take into consideration 
the convenience of the people and the situation of 
the present settlements, with an eye to the future 
population of the county, shall proceed to examine 
and determine upon the place for a permanent seat 
of Justice, giving a preference to the land belonging 



152 TO LOCATE THE COUNTY SEAT 

to the United States. But in case such selection 
should be made upon land claimed by an individual 
or individuals, the said commissioners shall secure 
for the use of the county a quantity not less than 
forty acres, which land thus acquired shall be laid 
off into town lots and be disposed of by the county 
commissioners, and the proceeds thereof applied to 
the erection of public buildings for said county. Pro- 
vided, however, that no person residing within the 
bounds of the attached part of said county shall be 
allowed to vote for commissioners to locate the Seat 
of Justice as herein provided for." 

After this amendment was adopted the bill was read 
the third time and laid on the table, on motion of Max- 
well, and later, on the motion of Wight, taken from the 
table and referred to a select committee, consisting of 
Wight, Maxwell and Benjamin Bond of Clinton. 

On Thursday, February 9, Wight reported the bill 
with an amendment, which was read and concurred in, 
and the bill passed in the following form : 

*'Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illi- 
nois represented in the General Assembly: 

Sec. 1— 

That all of that tract of country laying south of 
Ogle County formerly of Jo Daviess County be and 
is hereby attached to and made a part of Ogle Coun- 

ty. 

Sec. 2d— 

The county commissioners' court of Ogle County 
shall order an election in the several precincts in 
said county at such time as they may think best. At 
which election the qualified voters residing in said 
county may vote for the permanent seat of Justice 
of said county, which election shall be conducted in 
every respect and returns thereof made, as other 
county elections are under the act regulating elec- 
tions approved Jan. 10, 1829 — 

Sec. 3d — 

It shall be the duty of the county commissioners 
of said county to hold a court within thirtv davs after 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 153 

said election shall have been held at which court it 
shall be the duty of the clerk to lay before the court 
complete returns of said election as far as they have 
been received, and if it shall appear by said returns 
that the present county seat has received a greater 
number of votes than any other one place voted for. 
it shall be and remain the permanent seat of Jus- 
tice for said county. But in case any other place 
voted for shall have received at said election a great- 
er number of votes than the present county seat, or 
of any other place voted for, and a suitable cite, with 
not less than forty acres, of land can be obtained by 
the county commissioners at the place so elected for 
the use of the county. Said land shall be laid off into 
Town lots and disposed of by said court, and the 
proceeds thereof applied to the erection of Public 
buildings for said county. Wliich said election so 
made shall be and remain the county cite seat for 
said county, any law to the contrary notwithstanding. 
Providid that if the affore said election be contested 
the county commissioners may defer their action un- 
till the result of said contest be known. This act to 
be in force from and after its Passage." 

The House sent it to a special committee, consisting of 
James Craig of Jo Daviess, George Scarborough of Ver- 
million, Elijah Charles of Jo Daviess, Henry Madden of 
La Salle, and William A. Eichardson of Schuyler. 

On March 1 Craig reported the bill to the House with 
an amendment (now lost), which was read and concurred 
in, and it was ordered to a third reading, and on motion 
of Craig, referred to a select committee consisting of 
Craig, Albert C. Leary and Joseph Naper of Cook. 

On March 3 Craig reported the bill with an amendment 
which was read (and is now lost). Augustus C. French 
of Edgar moved to lay the bill on the table until July 
fourth, and the motion was carried. This was the end of 
the bill, for the Assembly adjourned March sixth. 

Among those voting against this motion to table were 
Father Dixon's friends, Elijah Charles and James Craig 
of Jo Daviess, John Dement, then living in Franklin 



154 TO DIVIDE OGLE COUNTY 

county, Jesse K. Dubois, later State Auditor, Ninian W. 
Edwards, John J. Hardin, who was killed in the battle of 
Buena Vista, Abraham Lincoln, John Naper, Edwin B. 
Webb and Robert L. Wilson. 

The commissioners who were appointed to locate the 
seat of justice of this county placed it at Oregon. This 
intensified the jealousy between the people of Dixon's 
Ferry and those of Oregon. Buffalo Grove, long since 
obliterated by the march of improvements, and Grand 
De Tour became ambitious, and eif orts were made to di- 
vide the county. John Dixon was the controlling spirit 
in the south half of the county, while Thomas Ford, then 
judge of the Circuit Court, and later judge of the Su- 
preme Court and, still later, Governor, was dominant 
in and around Oregon. Virgil A. Bogue w^as the cham- 
pion of Buffalo Grove. 

In his "Sketches of the History of Ogle County" Henry 
R. Boss says that John Dixon posted notices in Galena, 
in 1838, that he would apply to the Legislature "for the 
formation of a new county, the proposed territory includ- 
ing Oregon in the north, ' ' and that John Phelps of Oregon 
chanced to see this notice and he posted one stating his 
intention of applying for an act dividing Ogle by an east 
and west line "just including the present town of Dixon" 
in the north county. (P. 57.) 

In the Northwestern Gazette and Galena Advertiser, 
commencing September 8, 1838, and running until Feb- 
ruary 21, 1839, the following appeared : 

"Notice: A petition will be presented to the 
Legislature at their next session at Vandalia, for a 
division of Ogle county at or near the centre by a 
line from east to west thereby making each county 
about twenty-one by thirty-six miles. 

Dixon, Sept. 1st, 1838. John Dixon." 

Petitions for a division by an east and west line were 
prepared, circulated and signed, while the friends of 
Buffalo Grove and Grand De Tour scoured the county 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 155 

in their efforts to secure signatures to their petition for 
a division by a north and south line. Phelps, a man of 
strong passions, had taken offense at something said or 
done by Dixon, and in his anger denounced the latter 
with much more force than elegance. Judge Ford, then 
living in Oregon, realized that Phelps was doing a great 
injury to that community, so he interceded and induced 
the latter to make peace with Mr. Dixon and join with 
him in an effort to divide the county in such a manner 
that each would have a county seat at his own towai. 
Phelps listened to Ford's suggestions and became Dixon's 
ally. A committee was appointed to establish the divid- 
ing line. Joseph Crawford of Dixon and Cyrus Cham- 
berlain of "The Kingdom" were two members of that 
committee. Undoubtedly there were other members of 
the committee, but our efforts to learn their names failed. 
It was proposed that the north line of the new county 
should run from the northeast corner of Lee straight to 
Eock river, but Chamberlain protested so vehemently 
against this that the line was placed where it is to-day, 
and this because Chamberlain insisted that his land must 
be in the south county, for he would not live ''in Jack 
Phelps' county." (This is on the authority of a state- 
ment by Dr. Oliver Everett.) 

Then they put into circulation petitions to the legisla- 
ture asking that Ogle be divided upon the line they had 
chosen. Smith Gilbraith and Frederick R. Dutcher went 
to Vandalia in behalf of Dixon's Ferry to see that no 
point was overlooked. 

Dutcher frequently talked of the work he and Gilbraith 
did at Vandalia to promote the passage of their bill, and 
often said that they once heard that Bogue was expect- 
ing to receive another petition signed by a great number 
of the inhabitants of Ogle. Fearing that petition would 
give Bogue a majority of the petitioners, Dutcher and 
Gilbraith made their plans to keep the new petition from 



156 BUTCHER'S TRICK 

Bogue. To do this, Dutcher frequently inquired at the 
post office if there was any mail for Bogue. His persist- 
ence was rewarded one day by an affirmative answer, and 
he promptly asked for the mail. He was given a large 
package which he soon found was the new petition, and 
he and Gilbraith carefullv concealed it until their bill was 
passed, and then it was useless. 

Dutcher also said that, in order to reduce the influence 
of Bogue to the minimum, he and Gilbraith persuaded 
Bogue to make a speech in favor of the abolition of slav- 
ery, and such a speech did not make one very popular 
there in those days. 

While some who claim to know say that Bogue was not 
in Vandalia during that session, being detained at home 
by a severe illness, his daughter says he did attend that 
session, and was confined to his room by illness, but she 
adds, with sincere regret, she has no further information 
on the subject, as she was a mere child then and her 
father would not talk of those events. 

The Eleventh General Assembly convened for its first 
session on the third of December, 1838. George W. Har- 
rison of Galena was the Senator for the district com- 
posed of the counties of Jo Daviess, Eock Island, Steph- 
enson, Winnebago, Ogle, and Mercer, and James Craig 
of Jo Daviess, and Germanicus Kent of Eockford 
were the representatives for the district. On the thir- 
teenth of January, 1839, there was presented to the House 
a petition of citizens of Ogle living in township forty 
two, ranges one and two (Scott and Monroe) asking that 
those towns be placed in Winnebago. It went to the 
committee on counties and no report was made upon it. 

On the twenty-sixth of January, Craig presented to 
the House of Eepresentatives several petitions for the 
division of Ogle, with remonstrances against the division, 
and the recantations of some persons who had found 
themselves on the wrong side of the question after they 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 157 

had signed, and all were, upon his motion, referred, with- 
out reading, to a select committee consisting of himself, 
William H. Henderson of the Putnam and Bureau dis- 
trict, and Joseph Naper of Cook, Will and McHenry 
district, for whom Naperville was named. Two days 
later Craig presented more petitions and recantations, 
and they went to the same committee. On the fourth of 
February, this committee, by Craig, reported favorably 
a bill for "An Act to create the County of Lee out of 
Ogle." It was read twice, and then, on his motion, re- 
ferred to the standing committee on counties, which was 
composed of John Moore of McLean (afterwards State 
Treasurer), Henry L. Webb of Alexander, Abraham Lin- 
coln of Sangamon, Newton Cloud of Morgan, Germanicus 
Kent, John Houston of the Crawford and Jasper dis- 
trict, Edward M. Daley of Greene, John H. Murphy of 
Vermillion and Alden Hull of Tazewell. 

In the Northive stern Gasette and Galena Advertiser 
of February 1, 1839, is part of a letter to the Peoria 
Register from the latter 's Vandalia correspondent speak- 
ing of the bill to establish new circuits for the courts in 
which the writer mentions "the new county that will 
likely be made out of the south part of Ogle and Henry. ' ' 
The correspondent erred, as there was no proposal to 
make such a county. 

On the twelfth of February, Kent presented two peti- 
tions, one signed by seventy nine, and the other by three 
hundred and twenty three voters, praying for a removal 
of the county seat of Ogle, and remonstrating against a 
division of the county. Without reading, they were sent 
to the committee on counties. On the nineteenth of Feb- 
ruary, Moore of that committee and in its behalf, made a 
favorable report upon the bill with some amendments, 
which the committee proposed, one of them making the 
title "An Act to create the countv of Lee from the countv 
of Ogle, ' ' and it was ordered engrossed for a third read- 



158 LEE COUNTY FORMED 

ing. On the twenty-second it passed the House and was 
sent to the Senate, where it was read the first time Feb- 
ruary 26 and ordered to a second reading, when, upon 
motion of Harrison, the rules were dispensed with and 
the bill read the second time by its title, and then, upon 
his rnotion, a further dispensation of the rules was had, 
and the bill was read the third time by title and passed. 
It was approved, and went into effect on the twenty- 
seventh of February. 

The Act provides "that all that part of Ogle County 
lying south of a line beginning on the western boundary 
of Ogle County at the northwest corner of section 
eighteen in township twenty-two, north of range eight, 
east of the fourth principal meridian ; thence on the sec- 
tion line between sections number seven and eighteen in 
said township, east to the main channel of Rock River; 
thence up the center of the main channel of Rock River 
to the section line between sections twelve and thirteen 
in township twenty-two north of range nine, east of the 
fourth principal meridian ; thence east with the last men- 
tioned line to the northeast corner of section seventeen, 
in township twenty-two north of range ten, east of the 
fourth principal meridian; thence south to the southeast 
corner of the last mentioned section ; and thence east with 
the section lines to the eastern boundary of the county 
shall constitute the county of Lee. ' ' 

As passed the bill appointed D. G. Salisbury, **N. 
Nichols" and L. G. Butler commissioners to locate the 
county seat. On March second, the House, on motion of 
Craig, adopted a resolution reciting that ''N. Nichols," 
of Whiteside, should be '*E. H. Nichols," and authoriz- 
ing the Secretary of State to substitute the latter for 
the former in the enrolled bill, and that was done, the 
Senate concurring in the passage of the resolution. 

While this bill was pending a bitter fight over the loca- 
tion of De Kalb's seat of justice brought in a strange 
element. Joseph W. Churchill of De Kalb introduced 



EARLY LEE COUNTY 159 

a petition of citizens of that county praying for a divi- 
sion of Ogle, and a petition from De Kalb asking for the 
re-location of the seat of justice of that county. Both 
went to the committee on counties. The latter resulted 
in the passage of the "Act to re-locate the seat of justice 
of the county of De Kalb," approved March second, 1839. 
The first induced the committee to report a bill for "An 
Act relative to the county of De Kalb," which was read 
twice in the House. February twentieth it was ordered en- 
grossed for third reading, and then abandoned, no further 
action being had upon it. The bill remains on file. The first 
section is crossed out. The other sections relate to the 
location of the county seat. The first section, had the bill 
passed with that in it, would have added to De Kalb, 
without any vote by the people, all of range two east of 
the third principal meridian, being townships thirty- 
seven (Wyoming), thirty-eight (Willow Creek), thirty- 
nine (Alto) of Lee county, and townships forty (De- 
ment), forty-one (Lynnville) and forty-two (Monroe) of 
Ogle. (An erasure and alteration make it uncertain as 
to the last town.) 

While these bills were pending an effort was made in 
the House to create a new county out of parts of Winne- 
bago, Ogle, De Kalb and La Salle, but it failed. 

Citizens of Lee, De Kalb and LaSalle unsuccessfully 
petitioned the Fourteenth General Assembly, 1844-45, for 
the formation of a new county out of territory in those 
counties. 

Silas Noble of Lee introduced in the Senate of the Fif- 
teenth General Assembly, 1846- '47, the petition of sundry 
citizens of Lee, La Salle, and De Kalb counties for a 
new county to be called Eagle, to be composed of town- 
ships thirty-six, thirty-seven and thirty-eight, in ranges 
one, two, three and four, east of the fourth principal 
meridian, and township thirty-nine in ranges one and 
two east of that meridian. After considering them the 



160 NAME 

committee asked to be and was discharged from duty, 
and Noble obtained leave to withdraw the petition. Had 
these petitioners succeeded in this effort, Lee would have 
lost the present towns of Brooklyn, Wyoming, Viola, 
Willow Creek, Reynolds and Alto, and Paw Paw, in all 
probability, would have become the county seat. 

William B. Plato of Kane introduced in the Senate of 
the Eighteenth General Assembly, 1853, a bill for "An 
Act to establish the County of Eagle, and for other pur- 
poses therein named," which was read twice and then 
put to death by a reference to the committee on elec- 
tions that never reported upon it. 

In the Constitutional Convention of 1869-70, W. W. 
Sedgwick of De Kalb introduced a petition signed by 
residents of De Kalb, La Salle and Lee counties praj- 
ing that the new constitution be so framed that a new 
county could be formed out of those counties whenever 
two-thirds of the voters in the territory petitioned the 
General Assembly for such new county. The petition was 
sent to the committee on counties and no report was 
made upon it. 

Dutcher claimed the credit of selecting the name of the 
county, and stated that when he chose it he had in mind 
General Henry Lee (Light Horse Harry) of the Revo- 
lutionary Army, and intended, so far as it was in his 
power, the honor should go to him and no other. The 
statement in Hill's History of Lee County (1881) that 
the name was chosen in honor of General Robert E. Lee 
of the Confederate Army is too ridiculous for any 
comment. 






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